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THE BOY WITH 
THE U. S. MARINES 


BOOKS BY FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER 


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THE BOY WITH THE U. S. MARINES 


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When Uncle Sam takes charge. 

. S. Marines raising the flag at Charlotte-Amalia, Virgin Islands. 










/ 

U. S. SERVICE SERIES 

/ 

THE BOY WITH 
THE U. S. MARINES 


BY 

FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER' 

n 


/ . / ' 

WITH THIRTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS ^ 




BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 














Copyright, 1926 / 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard oL. 


All Rights Reserved 


The Boy With the U. S. Marines 


i 

\ 

■*' 

•) 

> 


IRorwooi) ipress 
BERWICK & SMITH CO. 
Norwood, Mass. 


u. s. A. 


NOV 13 1926'* Q: 

©Cl A»50!);j2 O 




PREFACE 


In every corner of the world, in the most troub¬ 
lous times, the dignity and honor of the United 
States have been especially entrusted to a chosen 
body of men, and, ever since that body was founded 
in Revolutionary Times, during the War of In¬ 
dependence, Uncle Sam has never once had occasion 
to regret his trust. That body of men is the U. S. 
Marine Corps. 

The history of the Marines impinges at a thousand 
points on the most thrilling moments of the nation^s 
and the world’s history. Wherever daring and ad¬ 
venture are needed, the Marines are the first to be 
sent to the fighting line. Theirs is a long record of 
victory on the field and of splendid achievement in 
the vast administrative duties which have been 
committed to them. 

The life of the U. S. Marine holds within itself 
the finest and the most varied possibilities for man¬ 
hood to be found anywhere in the United States. It 
calls for the best kind of men, and makes them still 
better. The Marines go everywhere. They have 
had stern duty in frozen Archangel and in tropical 


vi 


PREFACE 


islands, they have weathered typhoons on board ship 
and simooms upon the Saharan desert, they have 
seen fighting in the Near East and the Far East, and 
in every case their record has been one of honor. 

In this book emphasis has been laid on their work 
in Haiti and in China: the first, a statement of a 
wonderful accomplishment; the second, a portrayal 
of a vast work yet to be done. Where Chaos rules, 
the Marines must bring order. Bluntly: that is their 
job. To try to show the boys of the United States 
the magnificent heritage which they possess in the 
U. S. Marine Corps, and to stimulate interest in and 
love for that splendid and heroic branch of Americans 
great military and naval establishment, is the aim 
and purpose of 


The Author. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEE I 

The Haunting Drum .... 



\ 

PAGE 

1 

CHAPTEE II 

The Goat Without Horns . 



18 

CHAPTEE III 

Jungle Terrors. 



37 

CHAPTEE IV 

A Double Vengeance .... 



63 

CHAPTEE V 

The Island of Blood .... 



72 

CHAPTEE VI 
Quelling the Bandits 



95 

CHAPTEE VII 
Among the Leathernecks . 



124 

CHAPTEE VIII 
Surrounded by Death 



160 

CHAPTEE IX 

Soldiers of the Sea .... 



167 

CHAPTEE X 

Out on Blue Water .... 



192 

CHAPTEE XI 

Eaising a Chinese Siege 

• 

• 

218 


CHAPTEE XII 

A Heroic Eescue ... 

• • 

Vli 


. 236 





ILLUSTRATIONS 


When Uncle Sam Takes Charge . Frontispiece 

FACING 

PAGE 

The Old Haiti, before the Marines Made it 


Young again.16 

The Haunting Voodoo Drum ... 17 

Major-General John A. Lejeune ... 36 

Major Samuel Nicholas .... 37 

Kuins of Negro Greatness in Haiti . . 52 

The Great Citadel of Christophe ... 53 

Marines Construct Floating Eoadway in West 

Indies ....... 72 

“When Guns are Needed, They’re Needed 

Bad ”.73 

Marines Operate Field Radio Set ... 73 

Haitian Gendarmerie Marksmen ... 94 

U. S. Marines at Rio de Janeiro ... 95 

Trouble for Somebody! “ The Marines Have 

Landed!”.114 

Quick Service with a Big Gun . „ . 115 

• • * 

viii 





ILLUSTRATIONS 


IX 


FACING 

PAGE 

Marines as Airplane Mechanics . . . 130 

Four Shots and Four Hits in Nineteen 

Seconds ...... 131 

Marines in Civil War Days .... 142 

Marines as a Guard of Honor . . . 143 

Marine Corps Officers of Other Years . . 154 

Marines of the Previous Generation . . 155 

First Military Action of the Marines . . 166 

The Old Tun Tavern . . o . . 167 

U. S. Marines on Parade .... 182 

U. S. Marine Detachment on Battleship . 183 

All Aboard for Foreign Service . . . 200 

Sports on Board Ship ..... 201 

Sergeant Jiggs, Bulldog Mascot of Marines 212 

The Kind of Pets that Marines Like . . 213 

U. S. Marine Guards of the American Lega¬ 
tion at Peking.230 

Join the Marines and See the World! . . 231 



- ! 


* 




THE BOY WITH 
THE U. S. MARINES 


CHAPTER I 

THE HAUNTING DRUM 

The tom-tom throbbed steadily, unceasingly, 
maddeningly. Strange howls, hysterical, high- 
pitched, filtered through the darkening forest, the 
howls of men who had drugged themselves to mad¬ 
ness and who believed themselves to be wild beasts. 

The moon would be at the full that night. It 
was the chosen hour. The Voodoo rites of Haiti 
were about to begin. 

The boy, seated on a rock in the centre of a jungle 
clearing, rebelled inwardly at the violent wrenching 
of the hated rhythm. He knew that, sooner or later, 
whether he would or no, a hypnotic spell would 
compel him to obey the beating urge of the drum. 
The madness of it would get into his blood. Warren 
had always tried to defy this spell, for American 
blood ran in his veins, on his father's side; always 

I 


2 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

he had succumbed, for his mother was a French 
Haitian. 

As he sat there, a large-framed negro came run¬ 
ning across the clearing, almost on all-fours, a slaver 
of foam on his lips. Seeing the boy, he turned half 
round, and growled: 

Come! 

Warren gave a sudden start, as though he had 
been actually struck, but he did not move from his 
place. 

The negro halted, came towards him with a 
beast-like crouching movement, and rasped out, 
hoarsely, in his Haitian-French dialect: 

It is that there will be the Black Circle, this 
night! ’’ 

I know it, Hippolyte.’’ 

Then—^why you sit there? ” 

«I—I-” 

The negro peered at him and read the repulsion 
in the boy^s eyes. 

“ It is that you have some notion of cheating the 
Black Goat? Beware to you! Dare you to stay 
away? ” 

Warren Banville stirred restlessly. 

I wish I could,’^ he admitted. The conjuring 
always scares me.^’ 



THE HAUNTING DRUM 


3 

But, quite sure, if you put yourself against! It 
is to be foolish! You know well that Papaloi (the 
chief Voodoo priest) can everything see and hear, 
the nights when the moon is full. He hears us, now 1 
Is it that you want to put yourself at once into the 
danger? 

It^s just about as dangerous to go to the Black 
Circle as it is to stay here, seems to me,” the boy 
declared, bitterly. He had learned a good deal about 
Voodoo, having been brought up in Haiti, though, 
naturally, the extreme ceremonies of the jungle- 
worship were kept secret from those who had not 
been fully initiated. 

You think like that? You think that you can 
go or not go, just as it pleases you? I signal you 
something! Your father, he stayed away one time, 
just one time, only! ” 

Warren looked intently at the Voodoo devotee, 
who, though not a Papaloi, was one of the minor 
leaders of the secret cult. In the negro’s look, as 
well as in his tone, the boy caught a menace lurk¬ 
ing behind the words. 

“ What’s that about Father? ” 

Hippolyte laughed harshly, the unnatural laugh of 

overstrung nerves. 

It is that which I am telling you. Your father 


4 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

he stayed away from the Black Circle—one time, 
only. The white man thought he was clever when 
he shut his ears to the Call of the Black Goat.’’ 

** And then? ” 

Well, when again the full moon came, your 
father, he could not have heard a drum-beat even if 
he had the will.” 

“ Why not? ” 

“ He was dead.” 

‘‘ You mean-” 

‘'The meeting which he did not go to was the 
one just before his death. Oh, he stayed away, that 
is sure. It is sure, too, that the Black Goat found 
him, a little later, that same night.” The negro 
looked at the boy. “ That tell you something? ” 
“You mean that Voodoo killed Father? You 
mean—^he was murdered? ” 

The big black fixed the boy with an evil steadi¬ 
ness of gaze, quite unlike the usual shifty glance of 
his race. 

“ I did not say so, quite. I said that the Black 
Goat had found him. Is it not that the Black Goat 
is the master? Has he not the right to do what he 
wills? Your father got lost in the forest, did he not? 
It is you who ought to remember ! ” 

Warren remembered it well enough, for the 



THE HAUNTING DRUM 


5 

tragedy had happened only two years before. His 
father had suddenly disappeared, and when, after 
long search, the body was found in a distant and 
lonely glen, it was in the emaciated condition of 
absolute starvation. There were no marks of vi¬ 
olence on the body, nor any evidence of struggle. 

The mysterious death was ascribed to that obscure 
Haitian disease, known as '' head-whirling,” wherein 
all sense of direction is lost, and when a man will 
stamp upon the ground for hours, and even days, in 
the fixed belief that he is walking ahead. Skeptics 
declare this malady to be only a form of hysteria, 
common among the African races, and comparable 
to the jumping fever ” of the Canadian lumber¬ 
jacks; most Haitians believe that it is due to a kind 
of spell, brought about by Voodoo sorcery. Even 
since the occupation of the island by the U. S. 
Marines, many such cases have occurred, and medi¬ 
cal men of the Marine Corps suspect the use of 
poison, for the Papaloi and Mamaloi of Voodoo have 
intimate knowledge of mind-destroying poisons, un¬ 
known to white men, which these sorcerers use 
freely in addition to their strange hypnotic and 
seemingly magical powers. 

Never before had it been suggested to Warren 
that his father's death was directly due to foul play. 


6 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

The boy remembered his father’s open and avowed 
hostility to the dark powers of the jungle, and he 
knew that every white man in the island was an 
object of hate and suspicion/ But the news that 
the mysterious disappearance of his father, and its 
fatal consequences, had occurred directly after a 
deliberate defiance of a Voodoo meeting, threw a 
lurid light on the whole affair. 

The implication seemed too barbaric to be cred¬ 
ible, and yet the boy was aware that the Terrible 
Ones of the Jungle were more potent than his father 
had supposed. The realization that he was under 
suspicion, himself, was fraught with terror. 

But Father was found dead, starved! ” he pro¬ 
tested, trying to find some excuse for staving off his 
fears. 

Then, why did he not go home? ” 

“ He was lost; at least, people said so.” 

Lost, ngh! And a little walk of two hours, this 
way or that, would have brought him to a village. 
He was not lost. He knew very well where he 
was.” 

“ Then why-” 

Because he could not.” 

^ This is written as of the year 1917, not long after the arrival 
of the American Marines. American influence and order have 
since made of Haiti an entirely different land.—F. R-W. 



THE HAUNTING DRUM 


7 


I don’t see-” 

Naturally you do not see. Uh! How the whites 
think themselves clever! And they know nothing; 
but nothing at aU. You! White Boy! Look at 
me, well! ” 

The negro stooped, muttered some few words of 
a charm, and then drew his finger along the grass 
directly in front of Warren’s feet, a yard or so from 
the base of the rock, staring fixedly at the boy the 
while. 

‘‘ So! What do you see in the grass? ” 

The boy looked down. 

Nothing! ” 

So! And if you see nothing, you think there is 
nothing to see. It is the foolish thinking of the 
white man. Try and put your foot over the mark 
which you do not see! ” 

Scornfully, for Warren had all an American boy’s 
healthy dislike of mummery, he kicked his foot out. 
In the air, directly above the place where Hippolyte 
had drawn the line, the boy’s foot rebounded as 
though he had struck it against a stone wall. 

Kick hard. White Boy! ” 

More violently than before, Warren kicked out, 
but was stopped again. Angrily he got up from 
the rock, intending to stamp on that invisible line 



8 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

which had been drawn on the grass. But his feet 
would not go beyond it. 

That’s black magic! ” he declared hotly, for the 
moment too angry to be afraid. 

‘‘So! You see there are things that the whites 
do not understand! And I am not even Papaloi. 
Just the same,” he added grimly, “ I could make 
you sit on that rock, and sit there till your stomach 
shrivelled, and your bones came through the skin, 
and you starved to death, and they found your 
body—^like your father, eh? ” 

Warren stared at him, horrified. 

“ If I made an invisible line all around that rock. 
White Boy, what would you do, you? ” 

“ You mean that Father-” 

“ Perhaps! If the Papaloi knew that your father 
had given information to the American Marines, the 
white soldiers in white clothes, who think they are 
going to take this country from us, and why? Be¬ 
cause our skins are black. Would the Papaloi allow 
that? ” 

His voice raised in a sort of rhapsody. 

“Haiti for the Haitians! Here, alone, one can 
show a black face without receiving a blow. Here 
is one corner of the earth sacred to our rights. 
Everywhere else, in America, in Africa, the black 



THE HAUNTING DRUM 


9 

man is governed by the white. In Haiti, alone, the 
black man governs himself and the black is the equal 
of the white. It is here, in Haiti, that he proves 
that fact. Here the black lives by right, and not by 
tolerance. 

‘‘Let us sound the trumpet! You whites have 
said that we are incapable of governing ourselves, 
that we cannot govern; yet to whom, as a nation, do 
we owe our liberty? To our forefathers! They 
were black. White Boy, they were black, all the great 
builders of palaces, the makers of roads, the writers 
of laws, the generals of armies, all black! For more 
than a century! ’’ 

In a still more violent tone, the negro continued: 

“Alone they created the Haitian nation, alone, 
without help of any kind, they paid in gold and 
blood and the sweat of their brow for their freedom! 
They bought for this small portion of the great 
African race the right to live in independence. We 
do not need foreigners to aid us. The foreigner is 
insidious! He creeps in upon us. We must load 
those now among us with taxes; we must push back 
others who would follow them. What do the whites 
come for? For us? We are not such fools as to 
think so. They come to rob us of our country, to 
make us slaves, as American negroes were before; 


10 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

or vassals, as American negroes are to-day/ Would 
the Papaloi allow that? Is it not that he would 
be right to put the Collar of the Black Goat around 
the feet of an informer? 

The American boy looked at him, and shrank baek 

/ 

at the negro’s vehemence. 

“ That’s how it was, then! ” 

t 

He slumped back again upon the rock, his figure 
drooping. Hippolyte’s warning was clear. It must 
have been in such a way that his father had been 
caught, enmeshed in a web of sorcery. 

The boy could imagine the scene in all its terrible 
details. Before him he seemed to see again the 
lonely glen to which his father had been decoyed or 
whither he had been followed, around him he seemed 
to hear the droning incantations of the Voodoo 
fanatics, while his excited fancy pictured the hot 
yellow Haitian moon filtering through the trees and 
revealing the shadowy outline of a crouched figure 
drawing an invisible line on the ground with a finger. 
And then, for days and weeks afterwards, his father, 
his own father, imprisoned in this occult and in¬ 
tangible coil, striving to escape, raging, starving, 
going mad with horror and despair, perhaps- 

* This is translated directly from a typical Haitian proclama¬ 
tion.—F. R-W. 



THE HAUNTING DRUM ii 

He could not bear to think of it! And, because 
of the savage and expectant grin on the big negro’s 
lips, the boy could willingly have killed him. 

Warren dared not trust hunself to speak. The 
negro stayed silent, also. And, from the forest, there 
thrummed steadily the accursed throbbing of that 
insistent and evil drum. 

The glare in Hippolyte’s eyes grew more savage. 
Muttering a charm, he smoothed away the invisible 
line with the palm of his hand and looked up, show¬ 
ing teeth and gums in a beast-like snarl. 

It is that you will come to the Black Circle! ” 
he announced threateningly, and broke out into a 
raucous cougar-howl. 

In eager obedience to the summons of the drum, 
the negro rose and ran forward, half-crouching, into 
the shadow of the trees. The West Indian jungle 

swallowed his beast-cries. 

The tom-tom continued its racking iteration. 
Though he set his will against it as strongly as he 
could, Warren could not control his body from mak¬ 
ing slight movements in time to the rhythm of the 
drum. Even this small yielding was helping to 
break down his power of resistance, and the boy 
knew it, but the impulsion to sway to and fro was 
stronger than his will. 


12 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 


After Hippolyte left, Warren had deliberately 
swung himself round to face in the direction opposite 
to that whence the sound came, but, unconsciously, 
the haunting of the steady beat overcame him. He 
began to turn slowly towards it, dragged by its 
spell. The mesmeric power of that most primitive 
of all savage influences hammered insistently upon 
his nerves. 

Then, from the direction of the village, came a 
boy a little younger than Warren. He was walk¬ 
ing as though in his sleep, dragging his feet unwill¬ 
ingly. His gaze was fixed and glassy. 

‘‘Jules! ’’ cried Warren. “Jules! ” 

At the sound of his comrade^s voice, the boy 
stopped, rubbed his hand across his eyes, looked 
around bewilderedly, then rushed across the clear¬ 
ing and threw himself on the ground beside the rock 
on which the older boy was sitting. 

“ I don’t want to go! I don’t want to go! ” he 
wailed. 

“ Nor do I,” said Warren. 

“ Couldn’t we run away? ” 

“ Where to? ” 

That was the main difficulty. It would be full 
moon that night. At various points throughout the 
jungle, Voodoo rites would be held. It would be 


THE HAUNTING DRUM 


13 

impossible to get beyond the hearing of the beating 
tom-toms, impossible to escape its impelling curse. 
Both boys knew, too, that the danger to them would 
be immeasurably greater should they find them¬ 
selves involuntarily drawn to the Voodoo circle of 
a stranger village. 

“ Hippolyte was here,’’ said Warren, after a mo¬ 
ment’s silence. 

The younger boy shivered. 

‘‘ I’m afraid of him.” 

“ So am I.” Then, in a lower tone, Warren con¬ 
tinued, “ He told me something about Father.” 

‘‘What? That he’d been voodooed? That they’d 
put the Collar of the Black Goat on him? ” 

“ What is that, Jules? ” 

The younger boy made a gesture as though he 
were describing a circle on the ground. 

“ You’d heard about it before, then? ” 

“ Mammy LeQuon told me that your father had 
been voodooed, like that Englishman who wrote for 
the newspapers was.” 

“ The one who went mad? ” 

“ Yes, that one. He’d been magicked, for sure.” 

“Do you believe in all that superstitious stuff, 
Jules? ” 

The little griffonne—about ninety per cent, black 


14 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

blood—shrugged his shoulders desperately. The 
hopelessness of the gesture showed how deep was 
his terror and belief. 

“ Mammy LeQuon told me not to go to the Circle 
to-night. But when the tom-tom began-” 

Warren nodded; he understood. For a few min¬ 
utes there was silence between them, and, in the 
silence, both boys felt again the dragging influence 
of the barbaric rhythm. The young American tried 
to shake off the feeling by talking. 

‘‘ Did Mammy LeQuon say why you oughtn^t to 
go there to-night? 

“ Because of ^ The Goat Without Horns,’ ” an¬ 
swered Jules, tersely. 

That’s nonsense! She said that just to frighten 
you. That sort of thing isn’t done any more, if it 
ever was.” 

“ It is done,” declared Jules soberly. Every one 
knows that.” 

“ Father himself told me that there isn’t any truth 
in that story. Cannibalism in our days, Jules! It’s 
absurd! ” 

“Not believing Voodoo didn’t help your father 
much, Warren.” 

There was no answer to this, and the Haitian lad 
went on: 



THE HAUNTING DRUM 


15 

“Mammy LeQuon told me the Red Drink had 
been prepared for to-night, and the masks had been 
taken out. You know what that means! ” 

Warren was only half convinced, but he burst out: 

“ If anything like that is going on here, some¬ 
body ought to get down to the coast and tell the 
American Marines to send the Gendarmerie here! I 
would if I could! ’’ 

“ Stop, Wairen, stop! ” Jules was frantic. “ The 
Papaloi can hear! On a night of full moon, he can 
hear, even a dozen miles away! 

The boy tried to laugh away his comrade’s fears, 
but his own laugh sounded hollow. 

“ You’re every bit as credulous as Hippolyte! ” 

“ I don’t want to believe it, any more’n you do. 
But the Papaloi can hear! And they’ve got more 
magic than you think! ” 

Warren remembered his experience with Hippo¬ 
lyte, scarce half an hour before. He decided to say 
nothing about it to Jules, lest he should increase 
his comrade’s terrors. 

“So much the worse,” he responded. “The 
stronger the Papaloi are, the more harm they do. 
If the American Marines ever get up here into the 
interior, Voodoo won’t last long! ” 

The words were hardly out of his lips when, from 


i6 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

quite close to the two boys, there came a mocking 
laughter. It was not like the frank, open laugh of 
the negro, but a sinister and menacing sound. The 
lads looked around, fearfully. There was no one in 
sight. 

‘‘The Papaloi heard you! declared Jules, shak¬ 
ing and terror-stricken. 

Warren was little less frightened, but, none the 
less, he determined within himself to bring the 
slayers of his father to justice, or, at least, to do 
something towards uprooting the blight of Voodoo 
which weighed upon every living soul in Haiti like 
the burden of a deadly fear. 

It was now almost too dark to see. Very soon 
the full moon would be rising. From time to time, 
shadowy figures crossed the clearing, following the 
same direction that Hippolyte had taken. Most 
were silent, but one or two growled bestially as they 
ran. 

As the dark deepened, a second and then a third 
tom-tom, all in unison, swelled the evil rhythm, 
which reverberated through the night. Once or 
twice Warren tried to speak, but his throat was dry 
and stiff. The words would not come out. His 
will-power was becoming paralyzed. 

Presently the younger boy got clumsily to his feet 



On Parade. 

The old Haiti, before the Marines made it young again, 








© Robert Xites, Jr. 

Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons. 


The Haunting Voodoo Drum. 





THE HAUNTING DRUM 


17 

and staggered forward, dazedly, as before. Warren 
clutched him by the sleeve, but, when he tried to 
remonstrate, he could not speak. Jules gave no 
sign of consciousness either that he had moved or 
that he was being held. Warren felt the cataleptic 
rigidity of the arm under the sleeve. 

He knew the sign, knew it only too well, for he 
had suffered the same feeling in a lesser degree on 
previous nights of the full moon. And, as he grasped 
his comrade’s arm, the contagion of fear reached him 
and spread through him. 

For a minute or two they stood thus, dragged 
away from their self-control by the evil throbbing 
of the drums. Warren still resisted, inwardly, but 
the body would not obey the numbed will. 

As the first yellow gleams of the horizon-low 
moon pierced the branches of the forest, the two 
boys moved forward, step by step, in sluggish un¬ 
willingness, and so passed into the darkness of the 
trees, captives of the tom-tom. 


CHAPTER II 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 

Under a huge, lightning-struck tree, grey of bark, 
leafless, and bare of branch, the Voodoo-worshippers 
were gathered. A large fire of dry wood was burn¬ 
ing in the midst of an almost closed circle of 
crouched figures. On either side of the fire, in 
closely woven wicker baskets, were tangled masses 
of venomous snakes—the deadly fer-de-lance of the 
West Indies. Bits of red cloth hung here and there 
from the withered branches, and similar rags were 
knotted to the snake-baskets. 

The smoke of the fire was heavy and stupefying, 
branches of the gin-gin plant having been thrown 
into the flames to produce an intoxicating smell. 
Rancid butter and cocoanut oil were poured upon 
the fire, also, from time to time, adding greasy 
fumes to the already penetrating reek. 

Hung by their claws to a tree were a dozen 
roosters, all of them perfectly black save for one 
white one, on which there was not a single colored 

feather. Tethered to the tree was a goat, a buck, 

iS 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 19 

also jet black, an animal of the largest size, and, 
evidently, very old. 

Behind the fire and close to the trunk of the dead 
tree, thus closing the circle, stood five masked figures. 
All were partly disguised by four narrow strips of 
flaming red cloth which hung down to their feet 
from the corners of the masks they wore. Noth¬ 
ing could be more crudely made than these masks, 
and yet, despite a certain grotesqueness, they were 
terrifying. 

The outermost two masks represented the heads 
of snakes ready to strike, the jaws open and the 
venom-fangs poised; the innermost two masks were 
made to represent the heads of black goats, and 
were formidably horned. The central figure was 
the most horrible of all—it represented a blank face 
with a huge mouth, armed with long, pointed, blood- 
red teeth. Around the necks of each of these Voo¬ 
doo priests hung a live snake. 

In front of these five figures crouched a withered 
old man, incredibly wrinkled, with a few scattered 
wisps of grey hair; his straggly pointed beard was 
almost white. In person, he was disgustingly filthy, 
and was dressed in nothing more than a turban of 
blood-red, a small square patch of red cloth on his 
chest, and a pair of tattered blue cotton trousers. 


20 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 


His eyes, at once piercing and visionary, were never 
stiU. This was the Papaloi. He needed no dis¬ 
guise. Despite his mean attire, he was the Master. 
If proof were needed, coiled at his feet was a bush- 
master, the American python. 

To one side of the stupefying fire sat the tom-tom 
drummers. One of them was beating the Voodoo 
calling-drum, a curious instrument. It was about 
three and a half feet high, made of a single joint 
of a huge plant resembling bamboo, eighteen inches 
across; across the top was stretched a black goat¬ 
skin, thrummed thin by constant use, well stretched 
by interlaced cords. The instrument is so oddly 
constructed that its throbbing note is indistinct and 
low when heard near at hand, while at a distance 
of a mile or more it beats loudly and with a curiously 
exasperating effect. 

Beside the drummers squatted several of the older 
men of the village. Each of these, too, had a live 
snake hanging around his neck, snakes of the colu- 
brine family, non-venomous. Some of these rep¬ 
tiles hung limply, as if stupefied, but others swayed 
slowly from side to side in accompaniment to the 
rhythm of the drum. 

The moon, curiously yellow, glittered high through 
the trees. What with the flickering of the fire, and 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 21 


the slowly wavering shadows cast by the wind- 
stirred dead branches, the ground itself seemed to 
writhe as though covered with snakes. Save for the 
muffled throbbing of the Voodoo drum, there was 
a heavy and oppressive silence. 

The evening was already far advanced when War¬ 
ren and Jules, dragged by an occult force against 
their will, found themselves forced into the circle of 
villagers squatting on the ground, and not only into 
the circle, but to the very forefront. More than 
half hypnotized, the two boys sank to the ground, 
panic-stricken to be there, and still more panic- 
stricken at finding themselves so conspicuous. 

There was good cause for panic, to Warren, at 
least.. Although the use of snakes in Voodoo wor¬ 
ship is well known to exist, there is no case on record 
of a white man ever having seen a Voodoo rite of 
the most secret circle.' Only on two occasions have 
white men seen the Voodoo masks—though the 
ordinary ceremonies of the circle dancing ’’ are 
more or less openly held—and on both occasions the 
white men were blackened to resemble negroes. 
That Warren should not only be allowed to see this 

* With the possible exception of one Roman Catholic priest, 
disguised as a negro. As, however, this priest had given his 
promise not to reveal the nature of the secret jungle-rites, no 
information as to the ceremony was ever given out.—F. R-W. 


22 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

most secret rite, but threatened, if he did not come, 
seemed to the boy a sure sign that he would not 
be allowed to go away alive. A glance at Jules con¬ 
firmed his fears; the boy had passed into a stupor 
of fright. 

A long time passed without any sound other than 
that of the booming of the drum. From time to 
time, a belated figure came out of the jungle and 
joined the circle, but these stragglers became fewer 
and fewer. Presently, all had gathered. Scanning 
the group, by the firelight, Warren noted that not 
more than a third of the men from the village were 
there. Evidently, these were initiates. The prob¬ 
lem came to his mind—how had the non-initiates 
escaped the hypnotic calling of the drum? How was 
it that he and Jules had been forced to come, against 
their desire? Was it true that the compelling power 
of the will of the Papaloi could be exerted over such 
great distances? Did these witch-doctors know a 
telepathy more powerful than that of the white man? 

None of the women of the village had come, 
though generally they join with the men in the 
simpler ceremony of the dancing.’^ The rites of 
the negro women—even more mysterious and fear- 
begetting than those of the men—are always held 
in the dark of the moon, and in closed temples.” 



THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 23 

No white woman has ever seen one. These rites are 
led by the Mamaloi, or Voodoo priestess, and, from 
such evidence as has been given in courts of jus¬ 
tice, they resemble closely the Juju and Obi rites 
of the negroes of West Africa. 

Presently the five masked figures advanced closer 
to the fire, formed in line, and began to sway from 
side to side, like the snakes, in unison with the beat 
of the drum. The drummer was changing his 
rhythm. He had been beating with the heel of his 
hand, alone, upon the tight goatskin, producing the 
droning roll which was so easily heard a mile away, 
but which seemed so indistinct, yet thrilling, when 
near by. Now, the tips of his fingers alternated with 
the heel of the hand, giving out sharp staccato notes 
which quickened the pulse nervously, and heightened 
the agitation of the swaying priests. 

The movement was incredibly contagious. Soon, 
the whole gathering was rocking, likewise. Jules 
yielded to the impulse almost immediately, but 
Warren fought it as long as he could. In spite of 
every effort to control himself, however, he found 
himself mechanically swaying with the same gen¬ 
eral movement as the crowd. A light wind drove 
the acrid smoke from the fire in the boy's direction, 
further numbing his senses. 


24 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Then some one in the circle behind him began to 
moan. The low sound grew, died away, then 
throbbed out again, and diminished, only to resume 
more strongly with each pulsation. It formed an 
irregular syncopation with the tom-tom, adding ex¬ 
citement to the hypnotic rhythm. 

Warren’s eyelids grew heavy, and yet it seemed 
to him that his gaze became more penetrative. The 
vision began to escape from the control of the will. 
In the darkness of the forest, beyond the fire, dim 
Things appeared to be stirring. Was the jungle 
really inhabited by ghostly creatures which came to 
attend the Voodoo rites, as their followers asserted? 

The sense of mystery deepened, though, as yet, 
not a word had been said. The low moaning flowed 
and ebbed, the tom-toms beat on, remorselessly, 
unchangingly. Behind, in the darkness. Things 
moved. 

Then, from the little group of old men sitting on 
the ground beside the drummers, an aged negro rose. 
He carried a baby in his arms. The infant lay 
perfectly still, motionless, as though paralyzed. It 
was presented in turn to each of the masked figures, 
and to the Papaloi, who uttered some words of a 
charm. 

Then Hippolyte, recognizable by his size, despite 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 25 

the Snake-Mask, stepped forward, slid open a little 
door at the top of one of the baskets of snakes, and, 
with a quick movement, thrust the baby’s hand and 
arm through the hole. 

By the light of the fire, Warren could see the 
deadly fer-de-lances strike their venom fangs into 
the child’s arm. The baby made no move, and 
showed no sign of distress. 

The arm was immediately withdrawn, and, while 
Hippolyte closed the lid of the hissing basket, the 
other snake-masked Voodoo priest took a red ember 
of charcoal from the fire and cauterized the punc¬ 
tures in the baby’s skin, where the snake-fangs had 
struck deep. The infant made no outcry, lying 
apparently unconscious. 

This child was thus dedicated, from earliest child¬ 
hood, to become a Papaloi. Many babies are thus 
initiated, but few live to attain the supreme dignity, 
for the later initiation rites are barbarous, and the 
preparation of poisons is not without danger. 

Warren gazed, spellbound. He had never seen this 
rite before. It was but one evidence the more that 
he would not escape scot-free. He had often heard 
about it,.however. The envenomed fang-tooth of 
the fer-de-lance was fatal, as he knew. Yet the 
babies who were thus initiated by the snake-deities 


26 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

into Voodoo-worship never seemed to suffer; indeed, 
in some cases, they became permanently immune to 
snake-bite. The day following this strange rite, the 
children showed no ill effects, save for the cauterized 
burn on the arm. 

Every Haitian negro naturally was convinced that 
this immunity to the poison of the fer-de-lance was 
due to the potent influence of the snake-deities. 
Warren’s father had explained to him that the cata¬ 
leptic state in which the baby was thrown dimin¬ 
ished the flow of blood through the blood-vessels 
of the skin; the snake’s venom, therefore, did not 
enter the system, since there was no blood-flow to 
carry it, and the poison was immediately neutralized 
by cautery. The subjection to the cataleptic state, 
too, had been aided by the use of some stupefying 
drug, part of the secret lore of the Papaloi. 

While Warren watched, the same rite was repeated 
for six children, all of whom were destined to learn 
the occult magic and the secret knowledge of the 
cult. The ordinary initiation was simpler, consist¬ 
ing merely in presenting a child to a snake kept in 
a box on the rude altar of a Voodoo temple, and 
asking the snake’s protection. In the country vil¬ 
lage where Warren lived, there was not a single per¬ 
son—man or woman—who had not been dedicated 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 27 

to Voodoo rites in childhood. All the authorities, 
the judges, the police, the soldiery, all, were mem¬ 
bers of Voodoo, so that no appeal could be made 
to them for the stamping out of the practice. 

The whole conception of Voodoo-worship is based 
upon an ancient and almost world-wide belief: that 
the human race is descended from snakes. Far and 
wide, the Serpent is honored as a human ancestor, 
either on the father’s or the mother’s line. 

The ancient monarchs of India worshipped their 
serpent ancestors. The first dynasty of Greece came 
from the serpent-born Cecrops. Augustus Csesar 
impressed the barbarians of the Roman Empire by 
the tradition that he was born of a serpent grand¬ 
father. The Arabian dynasty of Edessa had the 
same supposed origin. Even to the present day, the 
Emperors of Abyssinia hold firm to the belief that 
their dynasty was established by a snake. 

All the world over—not in the jungle of Haiti 
alone—a belief prevails that the snake has the power 
to bring life and healing. The origin of this belief 
goes back to earliest antiquity. The Plmenician 
wise men ascribed their medical learning to a sea- 
snake-god. iEsculapius, greatest of Greek physi¬ 
cians, had a serpent coiled around a staff for his 
symbol, and this sign is still used in many modern 



28 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

armies as the insignia for the Medical Corps. 
Hygeia, goddess of hygiene, was symbolized as 
teaching a serpent to drink out of a goblet. Snake- 
skins are famous as a supposed protection against 
disease. 

Snakes, too, are supposed to be able to control 
the weather. In times of drought, in India, the Naga 
snake-priests are in great demand. There is scarcely 
any country on the globe where snake-rites have 
not been performed as weather festivals. Sweden, 
Finland, and Russia have annual snake-rites. In 
Mexico many ceremonies still are conducted which 
hark back to the ancient religion of the country— 
that of the Feathered Serpent. Even in the United 
States, and in the present day, one of the most strik¬ 
ing of all the ceremonial dances of the Indians is the 
Snake-Dance of the Hopi, when the warriors dance, 
carrying live rattlesnakes between their teeth; this 
dance, also, is designed to ensure rain and good 
crops. The Voodoo snake-rites of Haiti are but a 
single example of the world-wide veneration for the 
serpent, but the Haitians are West African negroes, 
who have slipped almost all the way back to their 
primitive savagery and superstition, and Voodoo is 
in their blood. 

Much of this passed through Warren’s mind, as 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 29 

he sat there, watching the presentation of the babies 
to the fer-de-lances, for the boy’s father had been 
so hostile to Voodoo that he had lost no chance of 
showing it to him as a dark superstition of the days 
of ignorance. Voodoo is a principal cause for the 
steady degradation of Haitian negro character, ever 
since the island passed out of French control. Voo¬ 
doo is terrorizing, bloodthirsty, and ignorant, and 
the Haitians are terrorized, reckless of bloodshed, 
and ignorant, in consequence. 

The American boy’s inbred hatred of Voodoo had 
been roused to a most intense loathing, as a result 
of the revelations of Hippolyte. The knowledge 
that his father’s death had followed upon a refusal 
to take part in Voodoo rites stirred his resentment 
to a sullen fury. When he thought of it, a desire 
for revenge almost overcame his fears that he would 
never leave those Voodoo rites alive. 

When the six children had been initiated, the 
Mouth-Priest came forward with a basket of honey- 
cakes, made in the form of small serpents, and set 
it on the ground. The Papaloi touched the great 
python on the neck and pointed to the basket. 

Usually, the snake, which was deliberately starved 
for some time before the great ceremony, was only 
too ready to gulp down the honey-cakes. This 


30 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

night, however, the great bush-master began to 
writhe its slow way around the circle, halting a mo¬ 
ment directly in front of the two boys. 

A murmur ran round the circle: 

He wants ‘ The Goat Without Homs' ! ” 

Jules clutched at his companion in an agony of 
fright. The great snake stayed motionless, its lid¬ 
less eyes fixed on them. 

Warren felt his blood run cold. 

But, after a minute or two of terrible strain, the 
snake moved on. Within the closely serried circle 
there was no chance for the creature to escape. It 
halted, again, near the tom-tom, swaying its head 
from side to side with the rhythm of the drum, then, 
at a sign and a muttered charm, it coiled itself again 
at the feet of the Papaloi. The man was master 
over the snake. 

In most Voodoo ceremonies, even of the secret 
inner Black Goat circle, once the honey-cakes are 
devoured, a wild shouting and singing follows, lead¬ 
ing to a frenzied dance, in which the Voodoo-wor¬ 
shippers work themselves up to a wild state of 
hysteria. The dancing continues until all have 
fallen on the ground in convulsions or catalepsy. 

But, this time, instead of passing to dance meas¬ 
ures, the drum struck up a quick, angry beat, the 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 31 

drum-stick striking alternately on the side and top 
of the tom-tom, while the lean muscular fingers 
tapped out a swift pulsating roll. The five masked 
figures began to chant, their voices sounding hol¬ 
low underneath the masks. It did not need much 
perception to realize that the anger of the circle was 
being stimulated. 

“ We’d better get out of here, Jules! ” whispered 
Warren, for he felt that the hate of the circle was 
being roused against him and his comrade. 

The younger boy shivered. 

“ He’ll hear you,” he whispered. The Papaloi’ll 
hear you. He*knows what you’re thinking! ” 

“Nonsense!” Warren tried to make his voice 
reassuring. “ These ceremonies are all fixed up in 
advance. Father told me so. That snake, there, he 
doesn’t touch the honey-cakes because he’s been just 
fed, probably.” 

Warren’s tones were so low that Jules could 
scarcely distinguish the words. Yet the Papaloi, 
from the farther side of the fire, responded as quietly 
as though the boy had been speaking to him: 

“ The Great One has not been fed. He waits for 
a richer food! ” 

Again the muttering went round the circle: 

“ He wants ' The Goat Without Horns ’! ” 


32 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

The angry rhythm continued, and the two Voo¬ 
doo priests wearing the Black-Goat masks began to 
stamp and to sway frantically. This continued for 
several minutes, and then, at a sudden redouble- 
ment of the drumming, they rushed to the tree and 
each tore down one of the roosters which was hang¬ 
ing there. Tearing the heads of the living fowls 
from their bodies, with a single pull of their power¬ 
ful teeth, they threw the still quivering bodies into 
the circle of worshippers, and snatched two more 
roosters to do likewise. 

A fierce cry of savagery arose from all the Voodoo- 
worshippers present. 

Tearing the scarce-dead roosters limb from limb, 
the negroes sank their teeth into the flesh. The 
tom-toms quickened their rhythm for the hideous 
meal. A burly black, squatted behind the two boys, 
thrust two bleeding morsels into their hands with 
the curt command: 

Jules, obedient from fear, did as he was bidden, 
but Warren, with disgust and repulsion, flung the 
raw flesh away. This stiffened Jules’ determination, 
and, after a moment’s hesitation, he did likewise. 

On the instant, all the tom-toms stopped save 
one. Every eye in the circle was fixed on the two 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 33 

boys. The Papaloi smiled, a wry, sour smile. There 
was an uncanny confidence in that smile. Warren 
would have been less uneasy under a burst of anger. 

The Mouth-Mask Voodoo priest then went to the 
tree and took down the lone white rooster. After 
certain very objectionable rites—which there is no 
need to describe—he placed the prepared fowl on 
the top of the pile of uneaten honey-cakes. 

Again, at a word from the Papaloi, the great 
python stirred, uncoiled, and stretched its long 
length until its head was almost touching the be¬ 
headed white rooster. 

But even the smell of blood failed to awaken the 
huge reptile's appetite. It writhed itself slowly 
around the circle, and again, as before, it halted in 
front of the two boys. The Papaloi uttered a charm. 
The five masked Voodoo priests drew nearer. 

Warren felt himself becoming a prey to fear. The 
fixed gaze of the python was intimidating; he com¬ 
menced to feel the dreaded fascination of the snake. 
The faint, harsh rustling of the reptile's scales held 
a note of menace. 

Suddenly, Hippolyte and the other Snake-Mask 
Voodoo priest dashed forward; Hippolyte seized 
Jules, while Warren felt his arms pinioned by the 
grasp of the second Snake-priest, a much smaller 



34 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

man. The younger boy set up a shrill scream of 
terror: 

It^s me they want to kill and eat. Mammy 
LeQuon said so! 

Horrible as this seemed, in a flash Warren realized 
that it must be true. While cannibalism among the 
Haitian negroes has become rare of recent years, 
even since the occupation of the island by American 
Marines (July 28, 1915) seventeen well-authen¬ 
ticated cases have been brought to light. “ The 
Goat Without Horns” is always a human victim, 
generally a child, but the phrase is sometimes used 
for a human sacrifice, in which no cannibalism 
occurs. In such cases the victim is generally a 
political enemy of the Papaloi, or a foe to the Voo¬ 
doo cult. 

Warren grasped, at once, that all the happenings 
of the evening had been leading to this end. The 
mere fact of the admission of the two boys to the 
secret rites was almost a sentence of death. To 
the boy’s mind, the refusal of the great python to 
eat anything meant simply that the creature had 
been gorged to repletion; the reptile’s halt directly 
in front of the purposed victims was only a part 
of the snake-charming powers of the Papaloi. In 
the same wav, the effort to force the two boys to 


THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 35 

eat the raw flesh of the black roosters had been 
planned in order to disgust them and to bring them 
into open deflance. 

The realization of all this flashed through War¬ 
ren’s mind at the instant that he felt himself 
seized. Its malignity and its horror gave him a 
sudden access of strength. 

With a movement of insensate fury, he wrenched 
himself free from the Snake-priest who had grasped 
him, and leaped for Hippolyte’s throat. The strug¬ 
gle lasted but a second. The huge negro hurled the 
boy away with a single sweep of his powerful arm, 
but, owing to the violence of the gesture, the lightly- 
fastened mask fell off. 

Some obscure sense of protection bade Warren 
pick up the mask and set it on his own head, just 
at the very instant that, with a yell of triumph, the 
excited negroes rose tumultuously, and closed in on 

him. 

The boy turned to face his foes, the Serpent-Mask 
on his shoulders. 

At the sight of the feared symbol, with its gleam¬ 
ing venom-teeth, the superstitious negroes fell back, 
stumbling and falling against each other in their 
sudden recoil. They had thought to seize a victnn, 
they found themselves face to face with an idol-god! 


36 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

The terror of the negroes was too evident to be 
misunderstood. They dared not touch one who wore 
the symbolic mask. 

Warren saw a gleam of hope. 

Snatching the other mask from the head of the 
small-statured Voodoo priest who had seized him, 
and who had been too much bewildered by the speed 
of events to realize what had happened, he set the 
grotesque Snake-head on Jules’ shoulders. 

At the sight of the Mask directly before his face, 
Hippolyte relaxed his grasp and recoiled, also. 

“ Run, Jules; run! ” yelled Warren, and, with his 
comrade at his heels, he tore past the tethered black 
goat and the lightning-struck tree, and on into the 
darkness of the jungle. 



Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 

Major-General John A. Lejeune. 

Commandant of the Marine Corps, which celebrated the comple¬ 
tion of 150 years of service on November 10th, 1925. 





Courtesy of U, S. Marine Corps. 

Major Samuel Nicholas. 

The first commander of American Marines, who, as a captain, 
led the sea soldiers on their first expedition to the Bahamas 

in 1776. 


CHAPTER III 


JUNGLE TERRORS 

The sudden flight of the two boys threw the 
circle of Voodoo-worshippers into a panic. Already 
put partly in a state of hysteria by the bloody 
rooster rite, their brains were whirling and bemused. 
They did not know what was to be done. Such a 
sacrilege had never been seen before. 

The silence and the mystery of the rite thus 
broken, the negroes babbled and chattered excitedly. 
The voice of the Papaloi was drowned in the noise. 
Only the steady roll of the tom-tom persisted 
through all. 

The boys would have been instantly pursued and 
captured, had it not been for the sacred Snake- 
Masks they wore upon their heads. In the sym¬ 
bolism of Guinea-Coast Voodoo, as it is still prac¬ 
tised in some of the isolated mountainous districts 
of Southern Haiti, the wearer of one of these masks 
is regarded, temporarily, almost as a god. The dis¬ 
appearance of two Serpent-Masks into the jungle, 
during an actual ceremony, seemed, to the half- 
crazed negroes, to possess some tremendous super- 

37 


38 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

natural import. They thought the Black Gods must 
be angry. Many of the most ardent devotees would 
have run away, had they dared. 

Even Hippolyte, himself, only stared in bewildered 
doubt in the direction that the boys had gone; 
robbed of his mask of power, he was but a common 
negro like his fellows; his confidence lay in his magic 
trappings. 

The other three Voodoo priests, handicapped by 
their heavy and half-blinding masks, could not have 
given chase, even if they desired; nor had they any 
thought of doing so. So far as they were concerned, 
the regular ceremonies of the evening were not yet 
ended; they awaited the ritual of the Black Goat 
which it was their duty to perform. Slow-witted, 
they had not grasped the violence of the occasion; 
mere habit bade them continue the rites, no mat¬ 
ter what the interruption. 

. The Papaloi, alone, seemed unperturbed. The 
same enigmatic smile lingered among his cruel 
wrinkles. 

The great python was quick to sense the change 
of feeling. The breaking-up of the rigidly enclosed 
circle gave it a chance to escape; perhaps, too, the 
will-power of the Papaloi was momentarily diverted. 
The snake writhed forward, the negroes unthink- 


JUNGLE TERRORS 39 

ingly giving way before it, and it was just about 
to escape into the darkness beyond the gleam of 
fire when the Mouth-Mask priest, seeing the gravity 
of losing a central figure of the Voodoo-worship, 
threw himself upon the reptile. 

Although sluggish and gorged to repletion, the 
snake reacted instantly and wound its constricting 
coils about the man's body. He would have been 
crushed to death immediately, but the Papaloi rose 
with unexpected swiftness for so old a man, and laid 
a finger, just one finger, on the neck of the huge 
serpent. The coils drew tighter, then, as suddenly, 
relaxed. The python, conquered, uncoiled, and lay 
supine* at the Papaloi's feet. 

The negroes ceased chattering, thrown into silence 
at this evidence of their leader’s power. After a 
moment or two of intense concentration, to make 
sure that the python was thoroughly subdued, the 
Papaloi spoke, calmly, and with mastery. 

'' My children,” said he, “ follow the young blas¬ 
phemers of Voodoo. Follow, but do not touch 
them. They have taken the protection of the 
Snake-gods. Good. It is quite sure that they will 
have more of the Snake-gods than they wish. Ngh! 
While they wear the emblems, they are holy; when 
they carry them no longer—and the endurance of 


40 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

men is not that of the gods—punishment will come. 
Oh, yes, my children, it will come! ” 

And there is something that is wise! ” exclaimed 
Hippolyte. 

The five Voodoo priests grasped the Papaloi’s 
meaning at once. It would be a serious error of 
judgment to allow any common worshipper to seize 
the wearer of a Snake-Mask, for such a capture 
would diminish the superstitious terror which the 
masks inspired; at the same time, to allow a pro¬ 
spective victim to escape would be a slight upon the 
magic powers of Voodoo. 

The Papaloi’s decision was subtly planned. With 
the masks upon their heads, the boys could neither 
eat, drink, nor sleep. Sometime, sooner or later, 
they must remove their masks. At that instant, 
they might be captured without any irreverence. 
There would be no doubt as to their fate. That full 
moon would surely see a double sacrifice of “ The 
Goat Without Horns.’’ 

The usual concluding ceremony of the Black Goat 
was hurried through, in perfunctory fashion. Less 
than ten minutes after the flight of Warren and 
Jules, a dozen of the most trusted Voodoo-wor¬ 
shippers were set directly on the trail of the two 
boys. Many of the others spread out fan-wise. 


JUNGLE TERRORS 41 

circling, to hem the fugitives in. Runners were 
sent to neighboring villages to warn them that they 
must not give shelter to the sacrilegious runaways. 

Warren and Jules, though sorely hampered by 
their masks, had stumbled forward through the 
woods as rapidly as they could go. The younger 
boy, frightened of the dark, terrified at the thought 
that the angered Voodoo-worshippers might be be¬ 
hind him, wanted to veer in the direction of his 
native village. The homing instinct of a hunted 
animal urged him to his den. 

The American boy saw clearer. There was no one 
in the village strong enough or willing to protect 
them against the Papaloi. Warren knew well that 
every supposed officer of justice in those parts, 
every magistrate, every village official, yes, even the 
President of the Republic of Haiti, himself, was ad¬ 
mittedly subservient to Voodoo. The Roman Cath¬ 
olic priests were almost the only active enemies of 
the secret jungle-worship, and their inffuence was 
limited. In any case, there was no Christian church, 
nearer than Jacmel—two days^ journey. 

Until he had been summoned to the Voodoo feast, 
that night, Warren had supposed himself tolerably 
safe. His father had made the village rich by 
founding a small logwood industry, and he had 


42 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

given his son all the necessary information as to 
rare woods, and woods for dyeing purposes. To the 
community, this knowledge was priceless, but War¬ 
ren was well aware that a mere question of profit 
would never save him from the wrath of the Papaloi. 
Once trapped in the village, capture would be im¬ 
mediate, and to be the victim of a cannibal feast 
seemed especially horrible to the American boy. 
His one idea was to put as much space as possible 
between him and his pursuers, and then to hide. 

The two boys had been running blindly and 
breathlessly forward for nearly an hour, crashing 
through thorny brushwood, tripping over snake-like 
tree-roots, halted by hanging creepers as thick as a 
man’s arm, when, far to one side of them, they 
heard a hunting caU. It was repeated from the other 
side. 

Already they were outflanked! 

The fugitives ran on, Warren searching anxiously 
for some place in which to hide. The yellow moon¬ 
light, filtering irregularly through the trees, made 
spots of light and dark which made it very difi&cult 
to discern accurately the nature of the ground. The 
jungle was littered with boulders, some of good size, 
but none of them large enough to give place for 


caves. 


JUNGLE TERRORS 43 

The call came again, nearer! The pursuers were 
closing in! 

Warren looked from side to side, desperately. 
Two big rocks, side by side, one of them partly 
propped up against the other, threw a dark shadow. 
It was a desperate chance, but it was better than 
nothing. 

‘‘Let's hide there!" panted Warren. “They 
might pass right by, and not see us." 

Jules made no reply. He had been exhausted 
long since. Only the stimulus of fright kept him 
upon his legs at all. At Warren's suggestion to halt, 
he threw himself upon the ground, desperate. The 
elder boy had to drag his comrade into the shadow. 
Jules no longer cared what became of him. 

For the first time since they had started on their 
mad rush, the boys had a chance to listen. The 
tom-tom had sounded steadily, all the while, but 
they had not noticed it. Now, Warren was sure that 
the drum—the voice of evil magic—was louder than 
it would have been were it still sounding from three 
or four miles away. The drum was searching for 
them, also. 

“ You hear it, Jules? " 

“ The Papaloi is coming! He will see us! " 

A shiver of apprehension ran over the older boy. 


44 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

While he did not believe in Voodoo, there was no 
denying at least some of the forces of black magic. 
Earlier that very evening, he had been dragged to 
the Voodoo feast against his will; when he had whis¬ 
pered to Jules concerning the snake, the Papaloi had 
read his thoughts. 

Nobody can see us in the dark! ’’ he said, reas¬ 
suringly, but he was not so sure about it, himself. 

The tom-tom sounded nearer, and ever nearer. 

A few minutes later, the crouching boys could hear 
the rustling of approaching feet through the brush¬ 
wood. The moonlight, shining through the trees, 
suddenly glinted on one figure, then on another, 
then on a dozen more. Warren laid his hand on his 
comrade's mouth, in warning not to utter the least 
sound. 

The Papaloi, followed directly by the two Black- 
Goat priests, still wearing their masks, were in the 
lead. They advanced slowly, very slowly, in a di¬ 
rect line towards the two rocks under the shadow of 
which the boys were hiding. 

Just a few paces away, the Papaloi stopped, look¬ 
ing directly at the fugitives, as though he were really 
able to see them. Then, without a single word said, 
he deliberately seated himself on the ground, not 
more than four yards away, and the masked figures 


JUNGLE TERRORS 45 

squatted behind him. Hippolyte gave a long high- 
pitched cry, which was echoed, a few seconds later, 
from all parts of the forest. 

The boys were trapped! 

The tom-tom broke into a swifter rhythm, a veri¬ 
table chant of triumph. Little good had it done 
Warren and Jules to flee! They were not more than 
four miles away from the Place of Sacrifice, and 
yet they were hemmed in on every side. 

But why did not their pursuers come forward and 
take them? For what were they waiting? Their 
immobility frightened Warren more than words 
would have done. 

He had plenty of time to consider. The Papaloi 
did not move. Scattered figures behind the Masked 
Voodoo priests, coming in response to Hippolyte's 
call, paced this way and that, restlessly, but they did 
not dare to speak, nor to advance. 

Only one thing seemed clear. Warren remem¬ 
bered the recoil of the negroes at the time that he 
had placed the Snake-Mask on his head. No one 
had dared to touch him. Was it so, still? 

He saw Jules lift his hands, and, guessing the in¬ 
tention, seized his comrade by the wrist. 

Whatever happens, don't take off your mask,” 
he ordered, not even troubling to lower his voice. 


46 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

I’ve got to! They’re willing me! ” 

There lay the danger! The American boy had 
felt, himself, the power of hypnotic suggestion which 
the Voodoo priests could exercise, the power which 
had made the whole island of Haiti a prey to their 
wiles. In his weakened state, Jules would not be 
able to resist long. 

Convinced that they were seen, Warren took off 
his belt, and, overcoming the feeble resistance of his 
comrade, buckled the hideous cocoanut-fibre mask 
to the boy’s head. Then, tearing off a shirt-sleeve, 
he did the same thing to his own mask, and set him¬ 
self to resist the dominance of suggestion. 

Jules’ admission had set his. hopes aflame. The 
Papaloi would not trouble himself to try and force 
the boys to take off the masks, of their own will, 
unless it really were that the Voodoo-worshippers 
dared not touch them, while so disguised. While 
they wore the masks, they were safe. 

To these unspoken thoughts, the mind-reading 
Papaloi answered, quietly: 

Gods do not sleep, nor eat, nor drink! ” 

So that was it! 

The Voodoo priests knew well that they need not 
hurry. Exhaustion, fatigue, hunger, and thirst 
would do their work for them. Sooner or later, the 


JUNGLE TERRORS 47 

boys must fall exhausted. Then they could be 
seized without compunction, one to serve as a canni¬ 
bal feast, the other as a human sacrifice. 

Warren sprang to his feet. His masked head over¬ 
topped the boulder and a ray of moonlight fell full 
on the green Serpent^s head. With the rest of his 
body in shadow, the effect was alarming. The super¬ 
stitious negroes fell back. The Papaloi did not move. 

Let us go on, Jules! '' he commanded, in a ring¬ 
ing voice, for it was evident that whispers and even 
unspoken thoughts were audible to the telepathy of 
the Papaloi and the Voodoo priests. '' Let’s go on! 

It’s no use waiting here! ” 

The younger boy made no reply, but rose obedi¬ 
ently, as in a dream. 

The Papaloi rose, also. 

What to do, or where to go, Warren had no idea. 
His only idea was movement. He felt that neither 
Jules nor he could long resist the Papaloi’s steady 
gaze. He plunged on into the forest, keeping the 
same direction as that in which he had started. 

The Papaloi and the Voodoo priests followed him. 
One group of negroes kept to the right of the two 
boys, one group to the left. No one interfered, no 
one hindered the fugitives. There was no need. 
Capture was sure. 


48 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Warren knew that, to the south west ward, a hun¬ 
dred miles away, lay the sea. Such little civiliza¬ 
tion as did exist in Haiti prior to the coming of the 
American Marines, lay near the coast, but the boy 
knew that he could not hope to reach there with¬ 
out water, food, and sleep. There was always the 
vague hope that he might find a lumber-camp 
with a white man for superintendent, but the chance 
was slim. 

The boys were foot-weary and worn-out when the 
first grey of dawn appeared. Jules was staggering, 
half-blind with strain and lack of sleep. It was not 
easy to breathe behind the masks, and they pressed 
heavily on the back of the neck. 

Daylight revealed the size and savageness of their 
escort. The Papaloi was still behind them, no longer 
able to walk, but carried on the crossed hands of 
Hippolyte and another negro of equally sturdy 
build. The body of the withered ancient had suc¬ 
cumbed to fatigue, but the will was indomitable, 
still. The three masked Voodoo priests followed 
sullenly, the tom-tom drummer behind. On either 
side of the two boys walked half-a-dozen stalwart 
negroes, evidently chosen for their endurance. The 
rest of the villagers had returned. 

Plodding on, the boys came to a swiftly running 


JUNGLE TERRORS 49 

stream, plunging downward between steep rocky 
banks. Only with the utmost effort did Warren 
succeed in keeping Jules from stooping down to the 
water, for the American boy felt sure that the 
slightest drink would be interpreted by the watching 
Voodoo-worshippers as giving them the right to seize 
his comrade. 

Sunrise gleamed upon a steep mountain-range 
before them. On the farther side of it lay the roll¬ 
ing foothills which descend to the coast. But they 
could never cross it! Yet, if the slope grew too 
steep, the bearers of the Papaloi might not be able 
to carry the old man all the way, and it was the 
Papaloi of whom Warren had the most fear. Ignor¬ 
ing Jules’ dull and stunned protests, he set himself 
to the climb, sure that his comrade would follow, so 
long as the last spark of strength remained. 

The groups of negroes on either side began to 
mutter. Warren caught a word here and there. 
Discontent was rife. In the presence of the Papaloi, 
this was almost equivalent to mutiny. 

At last, one said loudly and angrily: 

We’d better stop them here, and it will be the 

finish! ’’ 

Without a word said, the Papaloi raised a skinny 
finger, and pointed at the grumbler. 


50 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

The man halted in his tracks, stiff, as if suddenly 
paralyzed. 

Mouth-Mask advanced, without any appearance 
of haste drew out a long keen blade, and passed it 
swiftly and firmly across the mutineer’s throat. 
The man fell dead with a gurgling cry. The others 
of the group showed no surprise, but the mutter¬ 
ing stopped. In Haiti there is no disobedience to 
Voodoo. 

Warren took heart anew. There was evidently 
some reason why the negroes did not wish to climb 
the mountain slope. The pursuers fell back, and, 
instead of acting as sentinels on either side, followed 
the Papaloi like frightened sheep. 

Panting, exhausted, stale, black spots dancing be¬ 
fore his eyes from fatigue, Warren scrambled on, 
often fairly dragging Jules over a fallen tree, or pull¬ 
ing him through a tangle of briar. He ached to 
stop, even were it for but a moment, but he was 
afraid that if Jules should once sit down, no human 
power would ever raise him again. 

The boy dozed as he walked, his eyes half-shut 
most of the time, but this was not visible behind the 
mask. Often he stumbled, twice he almost fell. He 
hardly saw where he went, but he staggered on, in 
the numb acceptance of physical suffering which 


JUNGLE TERRORS Si 

comes when the will has forced the body to absolute 
control. 

A shot! 

Was it dream or delirium? 

No. Turning his head with difficulty, Warren 
saw one of the negroes fall, wounded, if he were not 
actually dead. 

The others halted, huddled together, and made as 
if to run. 

For the first time, during the journey, the Papaloi 
spoke: 

Forward, my children! ” 

The will dwelt grim and stem in the withered 
old body. 

But even Jules had wakened to an instant's in¬ 
terest. That gun-shot seemed to speak of liberty. 
If enemies were hiding in the thickets before them, 
such enemies might be turned into friends. A sud¬ 
den springiness came into Warren’s step. It was 
the last burst. 

‘'On, Jules,” he cried; “better be shot than be 
taken! ” 

A moment or two later another gun-shot was 
heard, from a little to one side of them. 

A second negro feU. 

Jules gave the clue: 


52 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

“Squat Pierre-of-the-Loma-Diego! ” he gasped 
out. 

The Cacos chief? 

Who else—would shoot? ’’ 

‘‘Run! Try to run, Jules! They’ll see we’re 

pursued! ” 

It was a pitiful semblance of a run, a mere wob¬ 
bling stagger, but the two boys broke into a clear¬ 
ing, a few yards further on, and saw four men stand¬ 
ing there, rifles in their hands. 

“Help! Help!” cried Jules in a shrill treble, 
desperation giving him the power to cry. 

One man raised his rifle, hesitated, and lowered it 

again. 

The boys stumbled forward. Jules fell in a heap 
before the riflemen. Warren stood erect a moment 
and tried to speak, then his knees gave way under 
him and he collapsed. 

The Papaloi, carried by the two negroes, came 
into the clearing. 




© Robert Niles, Jr. 

Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons, 

Ruins of negro greatness in Haiti. 

A century of Bluck rule had swept everything to disaster, ruin 
and neglect, until the Marines arrived. 








CHAPTER IV 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 

Almost at the same moment that the Papaloi ap¬ 
peared, a thick-set Herculean negro, in a gorgeous 
uniform all covered with tarnished gold-lace, came 
from out the thick jungle at the upper end of the 
clearing. He stepped authoritatively in front of 
the four riflemen, and looked inquiringly at the two 
strange serpent-headed figures who were lying on 
the ground, almost at his feet, in the last straits of 
exhaustion. 

As he looked, the two Black-Goat priests came out 
from the jungle, then the Mouth-Mask, and, after¬ 
wards, the group of following negroes. At the sight 
of the Papaloi and the masked figures, the Cacos 
sharpshooters had not moved, but, on the appear¬ 
ance of the villagers, every gun was brought to the 
shoulder instantly. 

The Cacos chief halted the impending bloodshed 
with a peremptory gesture. Not that he had any 
objection to killing—what Haitian has?—^but, as 
an important political leader, he had learned shrewd¬ 
ness and caution. 


53 


54 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Warren, the while, was struggling with the knot 
of the shirt-sleeve with which he had attached his 
mask, untying it with difficulty, for his fingers were 
almost too nerveless to obey him. Great was his re¬ 
lief when he succeeded, at last, in tearing off the 
huge green snake-head. 

‘‘ General,” the boy pleaded breathlessly, as soon 
as he got free, we surrender! ” 

Squat Pierre stared at the suddenly revealed face 
of the white boy in blank astonishment. How did 
it come about that a white lad was wearing a Voodoo 
mask? This was a mystery,” and, to the super¬ 
stitious black man, all mysteries mean black magic. 

“ We surrender! ” repeated Warren. ‘‘ Those log¬ 
cutting slaves ”—he knew the contempt of the Cacos 
for those who work and take white men’s pay, in¬ 
stead of stealing—‘^have come to seize us, though 
we are here to seek the protection of you and your 
camp! ” 

This assumed acknowledgment of his power 
piqued the vanity of the bandit chief, as it was in¬ 
tended to do. 

No one asks of me the protection and is re¬ 
fused! ” he asserted grandiosely. ‘Ht is of honor! 
I accept the surrender. Who will dare take you 
from me? ” 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 


55 


He glared across the clearing. 

The Papaloi answered with no less authority: 

These whites are not for you. They belong to 
the Great Snake. They were chosen by It at the 
Black Circle, last night.^’ 

The four Cacos riflemen flinched back a step; this 
was a mystery.^’ They dared not flght against 
Voodoo. 

Squat Pierre, himself, quailed at the dark say¬ 
ing, but he dared not show his fear. Among negroes, 
reason is nothing, prestige is everything. Power is 
only held at the cost of ruthlessness, a bloody lesson 
which Haitian history teaches on every page. 

The Cacos chief realized that the question of the 
fugitives was of grave importance. His authority 
was threatened. If he yielded to the Papaloi, now, 
his power over his own men would be gone, and the 
news would fly from village to village. He would 
be forced to become a mere tool of the Voodoo 
priests, and, if he showed resistance to them, a secret 
dose of poison would be his certain end. 

The revolutionist’s ambition overcame even his 
superstition. He faced his occult opponent with all 
the appearance of disdain that he could muster. 

“ These lads have asked protection,” he declared, 
with an air of finality. “ I do not give them up to 


S6 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

any one. If they have done anything that merits 
death, it is I who will give the order.’^ 

The Papaloi painfully descended from the crossed 
hands of Hippolyte and the other bearer, and tot¬ 
tered forward. There was a malignant intensity in 
his expression, but not a sign of fear. He came to 
within a few yards of the Cacos chief, and said, com- 
mandingly: 

‘‘ The Great Snake demands instant obedience 
or—it is your life which will pay.^^ 

It is that you dare to threaten me? Me? The 
General of the Loma Diego! 

The Great Snake speaks through me! ” 

He let himself sink to a squatting position on the 
ground, rested his chin on his hand and stared pierc¬ 
ingly at Squat Pierre, concentrating all his venomous 
hypnotic power on the bandit chief. 

The strife of wills was clearly unequal. No negro 
could sustain the mesmerizing glance of the Papaloi. 
Before two minutes had passed, the Cacos leader 
turned his head away. He felt that he was losing 
ground, that he was being dominated against his 
will. 

Squat Pierre was no weakling. He had become 
the acknowledged scourge of the entire region not 
only because of his personal strength and fighting 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 


57 

courage, but also by reason of his fertility of re¬ 
source. As his enemies had found out, he was never 
so much to be feared as when apparently beaten. 
He turned sharply. 

'' Go, Antoine! Fetch the white prisoner! ” he 
ordered. 

One of the men saluted clumsily and fell back. 
He returned, a minute or two later, leading a 
stranger in a tattered and soiled uniform which once 
had been that of a U. S. Marine. The prisoner’s 

wrists were tightly bound. 

On seeing him, Warren’s spirits gave a great 

bound of relief. 

^‘Help! ” he cried, in English. ''These Voodoo 
beasts are going to murder us! ” 

Blinking in the morning sunlight, for he had just 
come out of a dark cell, the Marine stared at the 
amazing scene before him: the Papaloi, the masked 
figures, Warren, Jules with the Snake-Mask still 
upon his head, and Squat Pierre. But he answered, 
instantly: 

"Sure, I’ll help! Count on me!” Then he 
glanced down at his bound wrists, ruefully. " Got 
to get my hands loose, though, before I can do 

much! ” 

He turned to Squat Pierre: 


58 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

I^d like to stretch my arms a bit, Chief! ” 

The Cacos ignored the plea. He had his own 
plans, bloody ones, for he knew the Papaloi to be 
more relentless than himself and even more savagely 
insistent on authority. Between two such rivals 
there could be no compromise. In those few min¬ 
utes on the clearing, a feud had risen to a pitched 
duel. Political power was pitted against Voodoo 
power. One must fall. 

White Man,” he said, do you see that old man 
there? ” 

“ He’s ugly enough,” commented the Marine. 

He dares to make himself my enemy.” 

“ Well? ” 

“ Will you kill him? ” 

“ Only too happy to oblige,” came the reckless 
reply, “ but these cords are pretty tight for accurate 
shooting.” 

Antoine,” bade Squat Pierre, ** loosen the bonds 
and give your rifle to the white man. You,” he 
turned to the others, “ shoot this white man if he 
tries to escape.” 

“ I’m not such a fool,” growled the Marine, as he 
held out his wrists. How’d I get away? ” 

His hands free, he stretched his arms three or 
four times in the luxury of movement, then took 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 59 

the rifle which was handed to him, examining the 
obsolete weapon with an amused professional eye. 
Kill! said the Cacos chief, curtly. 

But, at this drastic order, the American hesitated. 

“ Here, this is going a bit fast 1 Why don^t you 
kill him yourself, or get your men to do it? Why 
drag me in? ” 

He is Papaloi.” 

‘‘ One of those Voodoo conjurers? I guessed that. 
Well, what of it? 

“ Only a white man can shoot Papaloi.’^ 

“ You mean that you^re afraid of his magic,^ eh?. 
But thaPs murder! ” 

“ It is an execution. White Man.” 

“ I’m not your hangman! ” came the indignant 
answer. ‘‘ Get some one else to do your dirty 
work! ” and he made as though to give back the 
rifle. 

‘‘Shoot him! ” cried Jules in a shrill voice, un¬ 
buckling his mask and throwing it on the ground. 
“ They’ve been chasing us all night. They’re going 
to kill and eat me! Shoot him! ” 

The half-serious expression of the Marine changed 
on the instant. He realized that the matter was 
grave. He looked again at the Papaloi with an un¬ 
friendly eye, and his fighting jaw set hard. 


6 o WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Cannibalism, eh? Then those yarns are true! ” 

He turned to Warren. 

Is that straight? he asked, in English. 

“ Absolutely,’’ the boy answered. This same 
gang of Voodoo priests murdered my father a couple 
of years ago—^he was from the States—they picked 
this little chap for a human sacrifice last night, and 
they want to put me out of the way because I 
threatened to give information of their doings to 
the U. S. Marines.” 

The American looked thoughtfully at the rifie, 
evidently in doubt as to what he should do in such 
strange circumstances. 

That’s a plenty of evidence against him,” he 
admitted. “ He’d oughter be picked off promptly, 
an’ that’s a fact. But you see how it is, yourself. 
Shootin’s all right in war, or in a rough-and-tumble 
scrap. But to fire on an old man, unarmed, an’ 
sittin’ down, at that-” 

The white is afraid! ” declared Squat Pierre, 
spitting contemptuously on the ground. ‘‘He is 
afraid of the Papaloi! ” 

“ I wasn’t afraid to come charging up the hill here 
after you,” the Marine retorted, in halting French. 
“ Eight of us against more’n a hundred of you, an’ 
you behind stone walls into the bargain. Even then 



A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 6i 

you wouldn’t have got me prisoner if I hadn’t 
stopped a stray bullet with my leg.” 

Then, if you are not afraid of Voodoo—shoot! ” 

The American looked again at Warren. 

He’s a cold-blooded guy! ” he remarked, lapsing 
into English. The exclamation was more a question 
than a statement. 

The boy stirred uneasily at the implied query of 
the Marine. 

They’d have had us in ten minutes more. We 
were clean done. And they’d have taken Jules to 
the cooking-pot, that’s sure.” 

“ You’re out for blood, then, too? ” 

N-no,” came Warren’s hesitating answer. “ I’d 
have put a bullet through any of them, any time 
last night, if I’d had a gun. But that would have 
been in self-defence.” 

The Marine nodded. It was his own sentiment, 
exactly. 

Whether the Papaloi understood a little English, 
or merely had been reading the thoughts, it was 
certain that he grasped the essential fact of the 
Marine’s refusal. He ascribed this weakness to his 
own supernatural powers, and, confident that no one 
dare oppose him, neither black nor white, he 
beckoned to the two Black-Goat masked priests and 


62 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

peremptorily ordered them to go forward and to 
seize Warren and Jules. 

The Voodoo priests had little taste for the task, 
but they knew the occult powers of the Papaloi and 
dared not disobey. 

Sullenly, but still believing in the protecting 
power of their masks, the two fearsome figures ad¬ 
vanced across the clearing. 

At their approach, Jules screamed in terror, rose 
to his knees, snatched the rifle from the Marine’s 
loose grasp, levelled and fired, almost without tak¬ 
ing aim. 

The bullet sped true. 

The Papaloi bent forward, as though embracing 
his knees, then swayed and fell sidewise. He was 
shot through the lungs. 

Stunned by the suddenness of his own action, for 
he had fired almost without thinking and his flare 
of energy had been but a spasmodic stimulus of 
terror, Jules threw the rifle to one side and huddled 
upon the ground again, inert. As Warren had said, 
the boy was utterly spent, half-delirious from ex¬ 
haustion. 

The Voodoo priests halted at the shot. Behind 
their fear-inspiring but grotesque masks, there was 
no reading their expression. 


I 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 63 

The Marine, well accustomed to scenes of riot and 
danger in many lands—he had been through the 
famous Boxer outbreak in China—^remained unper¬ 
turbed. 

That’s one way out! ” was his grim comment. 

But the Papaloi was not yet dead. A red foam 
bubbled on his lips, yet the indomitable will of the 
aged sorcerer still held sway in the dying body. He 
forced himself to crawl forward, inch by inch, foot 
by foot, nearer and nearer to the crouching Jules. 
Death was clutching him, but sheer will-power kept 
the fierce eyes from glazing, and held them to their 
piercing and terrible animosity. They fairly glowed 
with a fiame of hate. 

/ 

Panic-stricken, paralyzed, Jules watched his 
dreaded enemy approach, and dared not, could not, 
move. 

The Papaloi crawled nearer. His movements 
were jerky and galvanic, but determined. He came 
close to the boy. 

With a last supreme effort, the dying sorcerer 
reached out his hand and laid a finger, a single 
finger, on Jules’ head. 

There came one wild and terrible cry! 

The Haitian lad, half-paralyzed as he had been, 
leaped to his feet at a single bound, stood rigid for 


64 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

a second, and then fell as a tree falls. He was stone 
dead. 

The Voodoo priests and the negroes behind them, 
frantic with fear of the supernatural, yelled, turned 
instantly, and broke for the woods in the helter- 
skelter speed of panic. In a few seconds, all had 
disappeared. 

The American was already kneeling beside Jules, 
looking for a wound. There was none. After a 
minute or two, he looked up, a puzzled expression 
on his face. 

Struck by lightning, or scared dead, I reckon,’^ 
he said to Warren. Anyway, he’s gone! ” 

The dying Papaloi, though at .the gate of Death, 
understood the tone, if not the words. Trying to 
prop himself on one elbow, he gasped out, trium¬ 
phantly: 

“ The Great Snake has his sacrifice! ” 

It was his last effort. He sank back, unconscious, 
breathed heavily for a few moments, struggled con¬ 
vulsively and was still. 

Squat Pierre had watched the whole proceedings 
with cruel satisfaction. Nothing could possibly 
have turned out better for him. The Papaloi had 
been slain, but not by any of his men; the slayer 
of the witch-doctor also was dead, and the Cacos 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 65 

chief had not been forced to interfere there, either. 
His own life was safer, and, by the death of the 
Papaloi, his authority over the rebel bands of his 
following would only be heightened. 

Duly grateful for the relief, he turned to the 
Marine. 

‘‘See, White Man,’’ he said, “if I leave your 
hands free, will you give parole? ” 

The American shook his head. 

“ You asked me that before. Chief. No, I can’t do 
it! Understand: if you were an officer in a regular 
army, an’ this was war, I’d have to submit to bein’ a 
prisoner o’ war, an’ could give parole until prisoners 
were exchanged j but I’m under orders to treat all 
Cacos as brigands an’ to shoot ’em at sight. Among 
the U. S. Marines, orders is orders.” 

“ And you, White Boy? ” 

“ I don’t know anything about politics, General,” 
Warren answered, prudently giving the Cacos chief 
his military title, “but I surrendered of my own 
will. I am not a soldier under orders. I will give 

parole.” 

“ You’re a durn little fool,” growled the Marine, 
in English; “ now you can’t escape, even if you get 

the chance.” 

“ There’s no use irritating the General for noth- 


66 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

ing/' the boy replied, in the same language, ‘‘ and 
I am grateful to him, besides. I’d be dead, by now, 
if we hadn’t happened to run into this camp.” 

Squat Pierre interrupted. 

What does the white man say? Translate! I 
order it! ” 

Warren translated faithfully, word for word. 

The Cacos chief smiled, in the confidence of con¬ 
scious power. 

It is impossible to escape from me,” he said. 
“ All the villages from here to the coast are mine. 
My word is final over all these mountains, as far 
as you can see. Yet, for your obstinacy. White 
Man, I shall have to tie your hands again. You 
might think it your duty to shoot me—^since those 
are your orders.” 

Fightin’ is my job,” replied the Marine, sturdily, 
‘‘but shootin’ a man behind his back isn’t. You 
don’t need to worry about that. Anyway, I’d be 
scragged by your men, myself, right afterwards, and 
the Regulations don’t provide for suicide.” 

“ Tie the white’s hands and take him back to the 
fort; chain his feet as before,” came the order. 
“ The white boy can go anywhere within the limits 
of the camp. He has given parole. I will hear his 
story presently.” 



A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 67 

But—^but, General! ” 

‘‘ Then, what? ’’ 

“ Jules? ” pleaded Warren, pointing to his com¬ 
rade’s body. 

He is dead.” 

“ Can’t he be properly buried, General? ” 

But, of course, certainly! Do you think we are 
savages? He shall be buried with all the rites; I 
will send a messenger for the cure. And I will see 
that there is a tombstone; I have said it. The body 
of the Papaloi, though, shall be burned where it 

lies.” 

Both Warren and the Marine protested at this 
indignity, asserting that Death ends all animosities, 
but Squat Pierre was adamant. 

“ Unless the body of a Papaloi is burned, he will 
come alive again as a vampire within three days,” 
the Cacos chief declared, and no reasoning could 
shake him from this superstitious belief. 

Two of the men came forward, and, after tying 
the Marine’s hands, led him back to a ruined stone 
structure just beyond the clearing, almost entirely 
hidden by rank jungle growth. In a corner of one 
of the rough cells of this place, there was a rude 
mattress on the ground, consisting of cocoanut mat¬ 
ting laid over a pile of palmetto leaves. A stout 


68 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

chain was lying across this mattress, and fastened 
to a strong but rusty ring set into the wall. The 
American seated himself quietly, waiting until the 
had been made fast to his ankles and chaffing 

with his guards, the while. 

“ He’s not such a bad sort, this Cacos chap,” de¬ 
clared the Marine, to Warren, when the negroes had 
left the cell. “ I don’t blame him for keeping me 
prisoner. He bandaged my leg for me, hunself, an 
the chow’s all right. All he lacks is savvy. But 
now. Youngster, what was all this Voodoo racket 
about? I wasn’t able to make bow or stern out of 
it, an’ it sure did break loose all of a sudden! Give 
US the bearin’s! 

Realizing that this was his long-desired oppor¬ 
tunity to reveal the truth about Voodoo as it was 
practised in the little isolated valley where he had 
spent his boyhood, Warren began to tell the story 
in all its details, beginning with the murder of his 
father by the “ Collar of the Black Goat.” He was 
just in the middle of the description of the snake 
initiation-rite for babies, when a messenger came to 
say that the General wanted to see him. 

Red-hot stuff! ” declared the Marine, drawing a 
long breath. “ Don’t forget to come back and tell 
me the rest, some time,” 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 69 

The boy followed his guide through winding 
passages half-choked with vines, up stone steps in 
every condition of ruin, and on to the terrace of the 
fort, overlooking the valley. There, in a roughly 
repaired casemate, from which a rusty cannon pro¬ 
jected in useless menace, he found the Cacos chief 
awaiting him. 

After a few questions. Squat Pierre bade Warren 
tell his story, and listened, almost without interrup¬ 
tion, until the boy had finished. He seemed well 
content with the recital, especially when he learned 
that, in the village, there were many logs of rare 
wood already cut and awaiting transport. 

“ I will see to it that they reach the coast,” he 
commented. 

Warren did not labor the point that the logs be¬ 
longed to him; he was not such a fool as to suppose 
that a cent of the money would ever reach his hands. 

“You know this place?” then queried Squat 
Pierre, gesturing to the walls of the fort around 
him. 

“No, General.” 

“ It was a stronghold of Toussaint L’Ouverture. 
You have heard of him? ” 

“ The greatest man that Haiti ever had,” the boy 

replied promptly. 


70 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

“ It was also a place of refuge for Dessalines/’ 

^'The worst!'’ declared Warren, and he could 
have bitten his tongue the minute he said so, for 
Dessalines is the national hero of the blacks. 

Squat Pierre flashed out: 

«I—I shall be greater than Toussaint L'Ouver- 
ture, for he was a dwarf, and old; I shall be stronger 
than Dessalines, for he was ignorant, and I—I have 
read books! ” 

With that, he launched out into a wild tirade for 
Haitian freedom from any interference with the 
white man. Warren listened carefully. His life was 
in this man’s hands, as was also the life of the 
Marine who had been made prisoner. It was good 
policy to remain friendly. 

‘‘ Would you wish. General,” the boy asked 
quietly, to massacre all the whites, as Dessalines 
did? ” 

“ No,” said the Cacos chief. “ I have read books. 
I know that there are many million whites, with 
battleships and guns. There are many million 
blacks, but they are in Africa and have not ships 
and guns. Yet I say that Haiti must be for the 
black men and that black men must rule.” 

“ There is nothing more simple,” declared the 
boy. “ The whites are looking for a black leader 


A DOUBLE VENGEANCE 


71 

who is strong enough to govern, and who is wise 
enough to see that new days demand new ways/’ 

“ Who is so strong as I? ” Squat Pierre leaped to 
his feet. Who is so wise as I? White Boy, why 
should I not be that leader? ” 

“ You might. General,” said Warren, cautiously, 
planning for his own safety and that of his com¬ 
rade, if you would learn from the whites. If the 
blacks are to rule, they must advance. The world 
has moved ahead a long way since Christophe built 
La Ferriere.” 

Show me then, you! Show me everything, now! 
I will reward you richly when I become President! ” 


CHAPTER V 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 

Warren was taken aback by Squat Pierre’s in¬ 
sistent demand for immediate and complete infor¬ 
mation on all subjects, though he saw, therein, a 
sense of security for himself. Yet, as he began to 
discuss Haitian affairs with the Cacos chief, the boy 
realized that, in spite of the childish bravado which 
is in the blood of every negro who attains a little 
power. Squat Pierre was more capable than most of 
his countrymen. As he said, himself, he had read 
books.” 

The story of Haiti was a familiar one to Warren. 

His father had lived nearly all his lifetime on the 

island, and had always hoped that, some day or 

other, the United States would annex Haiti, in the 

interests of civilization. In such a case, a great 

future would open for Warren, and his father had 

trained him accordingly. This teaching now served 

the boy in good stead, and, seeing the hold that an 

advisory position would give him upon Squat Pierre, 

he plunged into a brief account of the history of 

the Island of Blood, which, within ten years of wise 

^2 



Marines construct floating roadway in West Indies. 






Courtesy of U. a. Marine Corps. 

Marines operate field radio set. 

The Signal Branch of the Marines holds high rank in speed and 
efficiency among the Signal Corps of the world. 


Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 

“When guns are needed, they’re needed bad.’ 

U. S. Marines landing field artillery from an armor-plated 

Beetle Boat. 



THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 


73 

occupation, the United States Marines have turned 
into an Island of Peace. 

First discovered by Columbus—who thought Haiti 
to be a southern peninsula of China—the coast- 
lands and the jungles of the island were then in¬ 
habited by a race of North American Indians, feeble 
in body and indolent in character. Half this popula¬ 
tion was wiped out in ten years by the ruthless cam¬ 
paigns of the Conquistadors; the other half was 
more slowly exterminated by enforced labor and 
steady cruelty. Within twenty years of the dis¬ 
covery of the island, a steady flood of negro slaves, 
captured by the Portuguese from Guinea, from 
Dahomey, and from the Ivory Coast of West Africa, 
was pouring into New Spain.’^ Haiti had her 
share. The entire population of the island, to-day, 
consists of descendants of these slaves; there is a 
slight Creole admixture of French blood in the 
western half of the island, and of Spanish blood in 
the eastern. 

For nearly a century, Haiti was in the hands of 
the Spaniards, who exploited it to the full. Gold 
and silver mines were found and worked to profit. 
Sugar-growing was introduced and brought enor¬ 
mous fortunes to the planters, for Haiti is blessed 
by Nature with a prodigal fertility. The slaves were 


74 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

treated as work-animals, no effort was made to bet¬ 
ter their condition; Spain did not act that way. 

Then came that amazing period of the sea-empire 
of the Buccaneers, when all the maritime powers of 
the world submitted tamely to a system of most 
rascally piracy. The Buccaneers made Haiti one of 
their principal headquarters. They pillaged the 
colonies, tortured every person who might possess 
hidden treasure, burned the towns, captured every 
vessel that came or went, and wrested away Spanish 
control by the simple method of making every 
official walk the plank. They would have no one to 
interfere with their Reign of Piracy. With the in¬ 
human Portuguese slave-trader, the cruel Spanish 
Conquistador, and the mongrel-blooded Buccaneer 
for his masters, it must be admitted that the Haitian 
negro had little cause for admiration or love for the 

white man. 

The blacks fled to the mountains, to resume the 
aboriginal life of their African jungles. The fetish 
witch-doctors of Senegal, the Juju of the Congo, and 
the Mahon serpent-worship of Dahomey (which still 
exists) sprang up anew in the remnants of tribes 
from those regions who had been captured as slaves. 
Among them, also, were descendants of the cannibal 
tribe of Mondongues. In far-away Africa, a few of 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 75 

the negro peoples had been touched with the finger 
of Mohammedanism; nearly all the slaves had been 
taught a smattering of Catholicism. From the 
fusion of all these beliefs, barbaric and enlightened, 
came the worship known as Voodoo, its very name 
(Vaudoux=Vaudois) being but a corrupted French 
word for a heretic. When the Buccaneers anni¬ 
hilated Spanish authority, the witch-doctors became 
the dark rulers of the land. 

At last the time came when the Powers would no 
longer submit to the humiliation of paying tribute 
to pirates. The Allied European fleets destroyed 
the sea-empire of the Buccaneers. By the Treaty 
of Ryswick (1697), the greater part of the island of 

Haiti was ceded to France. 

A new regime began, for the white man was again 
in control of the coast-lands, though the interior was 
left to savagery and the witch-doctors. The 
French colonists winked at Voodoo, for they wanted 
workers for the plantations, and, so long as the 
slaves made some outward observance of Catholi¬ 
cism—which they were only too ready to do, the 
colonists cared nothing what happened in the 
jungles, on the nights of full moon, when the tom¬ 
tom throbbed its insistent and hypnotic call. 

During the eighteenth century, the colonists of 


76 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Haiti became steadily richer, plantations increased 
in size until nearly all the fertile coast-land was 
under cultivation, great mansions were built, and 
life was gay and brilliant. The capital. Port au 
Prince, became known as “Little Paris.” The 
population was then composed of a few thousand 
colonists, mostly French, some tens of thousands of 
“ free ” mulattoes, and some hundreds of thousands 
of negro slaves. On the whole, the slaves were well 
treated, for France has ever been a kind master to 
the colored races. 

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the 
advance mutterings of the French Revolution began 
to be heard. Fanatic writers with wild theories pro¬ 
claimed extravagances of “ Liberty, Fraternity, and 
Equality ” and spread the incendiary doctrine that 
“all races are equal.” This revolutionary poison 
doomed Haiti to its century-long orgy of misery and 
bloodshed. 

The first outbreak occurred under a Mohammedan 
fanatic slave named Mackandal, who had adapted 
some of the IVhirling Dervish rites to Voodoo and 
who had gained the reputation of being a magician 
so powerful that even the white men would be im¬ 
potent before him. At his word, the slaves rose in 
revolt. But the hands of the French colonists were 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 


77 

quick. The magician slave was captured, tried, 
found guilty of murder, rebellion, cannibalism, and 
sorcery, and sentenced to be burned alive. He was 
tied to a stake upon a pile of fagots in the market¬ 
place of Cap Haitien, declaring, all the while, that 
the flames could not kill him. When half-roasted, 
with all his flesh a-crisp, the ropes that bound him 
to the stake burned through. The scarcely-living 
semblance of a man, blind, charred, the bones of his 
heels showing white through the consumed flesh, 
dashed out of the flames, broke through the cordon 
of guards, and disappeared into the woods, a score 
of pursuers at his heels. He vanished, and was never 
seen again. The Haitians still believe that some day 
Mackandal will return and take his vengeance. 

It was on the fertile soil of negro boastfulness, 
slave resentment, and primitive superstition that 
there fell the noxious seeds of the regicide extremists 
of the French Revolution, those who guillotined 
their king, massacred every person who belonged to 
the aristocratic class, pursued the intellectuals with 
fury, and set their country flowing with blood—all 
in the name of a Libertywhich they savagely 
refused to others. The group of '' knitting-women 
of the Republic,” in far-away Paris—the Paris of 
The Terror—was the Mother-Fury of Haitian inde- 


78 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

pendence; the Council of Death of the National As¬ 
sembly was its father. If the negro learned the 
lesson of terror and massacre, at least it was the 
white man who taught it to him. 

There had been a young Haitian mulatto in Paris 
when the Revolution broke out. He was slightly 
educated, and, as a free mulatto, possessed a 
well-paying coffee plantation of his own. He had 
been among those who persuaded the National As¬ 
sembly to declare that citizenship was open to the 
mulatto, equally with the white man. Burning with 
this news, young Vincent Oge returned to his native 
island, and announced to the French colonists the 
decision of the National Assembly. Not having 
been infected with the virus of Revolution, they 
laughed at him. Then Oge organized a small army 
of free mulattoes and marched upon the capital. 

It was a mad attempt, for the negroes would not 
follow him. The blacks hated the whites, but re¬ 
spected them; they hated the mulattoes a good deal 
more, and respected them not at all. Oge and his 
lieutenant, Chavannes, were taken prisoners, publicly 
broken on the wheel on the exact spot where Mac- 
kandal had been partly burned alive, and their 
heads, on stakes, decorated the highway to Cap 
Haitien for many years. 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 79 

In spite of all this summary punishment, the 
poisonous fruit of bloody revenge was ripening on 
the Tree of Injustice; the man who was to pluck it 
was nearly ready. 

Warren, telling this story of old Haitian times to 
the Cacos chief, sitting in the casemate of the aban¬ 
doned fort, let himself go a little as he launched 
into the story of Toussaint L’Ouverture, one of the 
very few negroes of unmixed blood who ever at¬ 
tained anything like real greatness. 

On the large coffee and sugar plantation, known 
as Breda, situated not far from Cap Haitien, there 
lived a slave who was the son of an African mon¬ 
arch : King Gaou-Guinou, of the Guinea Coast. The 
manager of the plantation, a shrewd and a kindly 
man, was not long in noticing the difference between 
this slave and the common workers in the huts. 
There are rank and nobility in the negro races, as 
elsewhere. 

The planter realized that a considerate treatment 
of this princely captive would win him the loyalty 
of his slaves, and make better workers of them. 
He freed the son of the African King from every 
kind of labor, built him a large hut of his own, and 
gave him five slaves to attend on him. This negro 
prince was the father of Toussaint L'Ouverture, and 


8o WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

in this heritage lies the secret of that leader’s sterling 
worth. 

Toussaint was eleven years old when Mackandal 
was burned at the stake. Tradition credits him 
with having been there. The story is not improb¬ 
able, for the Breda plantation was not far from Cap 
Haitien, and the day of the execution had been 
proclaimed a public holiday, in order that crowds 
might come, and that the sight might strike all 
would-be mutineers with fear. 

When, forty years later, Oge was broken on the 
wheel, in the public square, Toussaint was there, 
also. He was now a coachman on the plantation of 
Breda, and, as coachman, had driven his master to 
the town that day. 

This coachman was a man of strange character, 
very silent, very quick, very willing. He was a 
small man, very small, barely five feet high, but 
there was tremendous personality and almost royal 
authority in the little frame. The owner of the 
plantation liked this grandson of an African King, 
and freed him from all field work, setting him to 
the lightest of household duties. Where there were 
hundreds of slaves, one could well be spared. 
Finally, he took him for coachman, sure of the little 
man’s fidelity. This post was almost a sinecure. 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 8i 

The industrious slave taught himself to read and 
write. In an evil day for the colonists, he chanced 
to find a book written by Abbe Raynal, a famous 
book of pre-Revolution days, full of fanatic vision- 
ings and of blood-and-fire propaganda. Raynal de¬ 
clared that slavery and servitude were intolerable 
evils, and that all that was needed was a leader 

sufficiently courageous to lead slaves and captive 
peoples to vengeance.^’ 

The coachman learned this phrase by heart—and 
many others to the same purpose—and brooded over 
them. The poison had entered his veins. One hot 
afternoon, waiting for his master outside a planter's 
house, he had what he declared to be a vision. A 
shaft of light cleft the jungle in twain, and showed 
him the coast of Africa, many thousand miles away. 
He heard the ancient jungle songs and a voice which 
told him that he was the leader predicted by Ray¬ 
nal. Toussaint L^Ouverture, the coachman, grand¬ 
son of King Gaou-Guinou, was then fifty-four years 
old. 

The vision had come at an opportune moment. 
Oge^s death, instead of quelling the mutinous spirit 
among the mulattoes, had excited it. The doctrine 
of equality of races had swept the Haitian jungle 
like wild-fire. Several small uprisings had occurred. 



82 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

all easily quelled, for the blacks had no leader. The 
decisive step came soon after, during a steaming 
August. Blair Niles has well described the scene: 

The rain fell heavily upon the roof of the jungle 
and dripped steadily from the lower branches. 
There was the crash of thunder, the sharp hiss of 
lightning, the thud of falling trees. In the black 
night of the tempest, the torches made but a glim¬ 
mer of uncertain light, wavering like torches re¬ 
flected in some dark and gloomy pool. 

‘‘ Suddenly there appeared before the startled 
eyes of the assemblage the towering figure of a huge 
negress. For more than a hundred years it has been 
told how her eyes flashed, how she carried in her 
hand a long pointed knife, and how she whirled it 
about above her head, while she intoned one of the 
inherited songs of Africa; how, all at once, the dele¬ 
gates became aware of a shadowy chorus who 
chanted the refrain as they prostrated themselves 
to a wet earth. The women brought with them a 
black pig. It has been told that the pig was with 
much ceremony sacrificed, and that, on their knees, 
all drank the hot blood, vowing to consecrate them¬ 
selves to insurrection. 

And, among those who drank and vowed, there 
was the slave who had read Abbe Raynal; an old 
man who could remember Mackandal and the in¬ 
fluence of his reputed magic upon dark, groping 
minds. 

Toussaint knew well the effect of that ceremony 
of the oath of blood. He knew how dramatically 
the tale of it would be repeated, passed from mouth 
to mouth. He knew that the timid would draw from 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 83 

it courage and faith. Perhaps Toussaint did more 
than play upon the superstitions of those he would 
liberate; perhaps he, too, drew a measure of strength 
from the hypnotic chant, and from the warm, gush¬ 
ing blood. 

“ They drank. 

And, eight days later, from the north, the east, 
the west, and the south of the plain, there sounded 
the drums. They severed the stillness of sleep, and 
nothing in Haiti was ever again to be the same. 
On one side of that melancholy and mysterious 
drum-call there lay the colonists’ Haiti: the Haiti 
where white had lived upon the life and the sweat 
of the black. On the other side of the vibrant sum¬ 
mons lay the agony of the most terrible struggle for 
freedom which the world has ever seen. 

The drums beat, not soft whispering drums like 
the old call to secret conclave, not seductive like the 
caU to the dance, but fiercely loud, with small re¬ 
gard to rhythm, for the hands upon the goat-skins 
trembled with the knowledge of what was that night 
to be done. 

“ Twelve to one the blacks outnumbered the 
whites who had enslaved them. Twelve to one they 
now rose in obedience to the oath of blood sworn 
by their leaders. They did not forget the floggings, 
nor the flames, nor the torture. For, when they rose, 
they cried: 

^ Vengeance! ’ 

Each man had to provide himself arms as best 
he could. They had knives and hatchets and clubs. 
That was the best they could do. Those who lacked 
weapons used their torches to set fire to the fields 
of sugar-cane, to the mills and to the mansions of 
their owners.” 


84 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Squat Pierre leaped to his feet. 

Ha! So shall I do; II ” 

Warren continued, deliberately changing the tone 
of his narrative to a drier recital of the facts of his- , 
tory. It was no part of his plan to awaken the sense 
of vengeance in the Cacos chief. Hoping to please 
him, he had overstepped the mark a little. 

The French Revolution was as much feared by 
the French colonists of Haiti as were the negroes. 
When the blacks began their island-wide descent 
upon the plantations, the colonists drove them back, 
though at a terrible loss of life and property, and 
sent imploring messages to England, begging for 
annexation as the only means of escaping Revolu¬ 
tion in France and rebellion at home. Spanish, 
English, French, colonists, mulattoes, negroes, all 
plunged into the fray, each group with its own aims. 
Toussaint joined the Spanish against the French. 
Then, when at last France abolished slavery, Tous¬ 
saint joined the French, and with amazing general¬ 
ship, smashed the Spanish forces and drove the Eng¬ 
lish from the island. He then outmanoeuvered the 
French in statecraft, and, taking Napoleon as his 
model, became First Consul of Haiti. 

The grandson of the African King had many of 
the elements of genius. Out of a horde of slaves he 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 85 

made a drilled army which defeated trained Spanish, 
French, and English troops. Napoleon was his idol, 
his guide. He formed himself on the Little Cor¬ 
poral ’’ and made himself lawgiver and civilizer, as 
well as General. He forbade Voodoo, established 
schools, forced the negroes to work, set the planta¬ 
tions in order, and balanced the finances. Tous- 
saint’s government was scarcely less tyrannical than 
that of the colonists; the negroes submitted, because 
he was a black, like themselves. England and the 
United States admitted him as an equal. But 
Napoleon, his power growing day by day, was ill- 
content. This negro loomed too large. He must 
be curbed. 

The days of the French Revolution were past. 
Napoleon had no false ideas as to the equality of 
the black and the white races. Haiti might be a pro¬ 
gressive French colony, if it willed; it was not to 
become independent. Toussaint might be accepted 
as Governor, perhaps, but First Consul! 

The great Napoleon sent General Leclerc, his own 
brother-in-law, with a fleet of 20,000 men, all vet¬ 
erans, to teach the Haitians a lesson. The expedi¬ 
tion was regarded merely as a minor matter, almost 
a pleasure jaunt. Napoleon’s sister, Pauline, accom¬ 
panied her husband. 


86 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Against the veterans of Napoleon, even the best 
of Toussaint’s army could do nothing. The negroes 
fought well, but were dispersed at the first onset, 
and were forced to retreat to the hills. 

This fort,^’ interrupted Squat Pierre, was built 
then.^^ 

Warren nodded, and continued. In the jungles, 
Leclerc’s troops could not follow. It was all that 
his veteran army could do to hold the coast. His 
short-lived triumph was soon to come to an end. 
Evil days were at hand. 

Came the rainy season, and yellow fever. Men 
died at the rate of 160 a day. The seasoned vet¬ 
erans rotted in the marsh-lands. The gay little 
Pauline stayed in the sunny palace that had been 
built for her, until the spectre of yellow fever came 
too close, and then she sailed away. Leclerc stayed, 
awaiting reinforcements, and ever more reinforce¬ 
ments. But those who came to fill up the ranks 
were raw recruits; the army dwindled in numbers 
and in character. Fever took a terrible toll. Tous- 
saint, in the hills, watched and waited. 

Then came a treacherous letter from the French, 
begging General Toussaint to come and confer with 
them, promising safe-conduct, treaty terms, and 
friendship. His friends suspected a trap, but Tous- 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 87 

saint trusted to French honor. He could not know 
that Napoleon had sent orders to Leclerc telling him 
that the ex-slave who called himself First Consul 
must be seized ** by any means.^^ Napoleon^s 
brother-in-law had to obey. 

Driving down in state to the house of General 
Brunet, one of Leclerc’s aids, Toussaint was wel¬ 
comed graciously, shown into the house, then 
treacherously seized, loaded with chains, hurried by 
night to the coast and shipped to France. Without 
any form of trial the Liberator of Haiti was thrown 
in solitary confinement into a damp cell in the fort¬ 
ress of Joux, near Besangon, in the Jura Mountains. 
There, in 1803, the aged negro died, without ever an 
answer from Napoleon to all his letters, begging to 
know why he was doomed to perish of cold and 
hunger, in a dungeon, far from his native land, he 
who had fought the battles of France and driven the 
Spanish and the English from Haiti. 

Toussaint was not the only victim. The gay 
Pauline had flitted back to Paris, but Leclerc re¬ 
mained, little less a prisoner in his fever-surrounded 
fortress-house on the Haitian shore than was Tous¬ 
saint in his squalid and humid dungeon. Weeks of 
disappointment grew to months of despair, and 
Leclerc, in agonized impotence and hopelessness. 


88 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

was almost glad when he found that he had taken 
the yellow fever. One still may read the grim order 
that he wrote with his own hand, bidding the death- 
cart come and take his body, three days hence. 

The ideals of democracy had been abandoned by 
Napoleon. The French Revolution had been but a 
ladder which, once climbed, could be kicked down. 
The Master of Europe sent Rochambeau with an 
army, to Haiti, to reestablish slavery. 

The spirit of Haitian independence, fanned to red- 
heat by the treachery shown to Toussaint and roused 
to further fury by the announcement of the re- 
establishment of slavery, broke out like a volcanic 
fire. The three Haitian generals whom Toussaint 
had left in the island, Dessalines, Christophe, and 
Petion, vied with each other for swiftness of action' 
against the French. 

There was no question as to which of these gen¬ 
erals was the most dashing and the most ferocious. 
The tigerishness of Dessalines was almost beyond 
belief. Rochambeau was fairly hurled back to his 
ships, and Dessalines smote blindly and bloodily to 
right and left until even savage Haiti stood aghast. 
He proclaimed himself Emperor—^had not Napoleon 
just done the same!—and he celebrated his crown¬ 
ing with a famous Order of Massacre, directing that 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 89 

not a single white, man, woman, or child, should be 
left alive in Haiti. He carried out his sanguinary 
edict to the letter. The island ran with blood; a 
few white doctors alone were spared. 

The glut for killing, once roused in Dessalines, 
could not easily be stayed. The Black Tiger’s ” 
thirst must be slaked with black blood, since there 
was no more white blood to be had. Woe to any 
one who stood in his way! Brutal, profligate, ex¬ 
travagant, he seized everything for himself and 
spent it on himself. The stories of his cruelties are 
such as cannot be told. So rabid was his seizure of 
everything for himself that the soldiers of his army 
lacked their pay, and, even, food. Within two years 
Haiti was in an eruption of conspiracy. And when 
the news was brought to him that, at last, the blacks 
had dared to rise in revolt, Dessalines answered: 

Good! They shall learn! My horse shall paw 
the ground in blood from sea to sea! ” 

He was to reap as he had sown. Not only had 
his excesses turned all the people against him, but 
even the two generals, Christophe and Petion, would 
endure such an emperor no longer. Dessalines sent 
some of the officers of his staff ahead to prepare his 
coming, and to lay plans for the swath of blood 
that he had planned, but they betrayed him and 


90 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

led him into an ambush. As the Black Tiger ” 
crossed a bridge, he was set upon by his own sol¬ 
diers, stabbed, hacked to pieces, stripped, and his 
fingers cut off to get the bimches of jewels which 
he wore. The abominable Dessalines died as he 
had lived, feared and hated. Yet he is now the 
national hero of Haiti, and ever will be—^because he 
massacred the whites. 

Christophe and Petion then divided the island, 
north and south. Petion, the gentle-minded mu¬ 
latto, too mild for his times, strove loyally and 
bravely for his country’s good, in the south. He 
established schools and dispensaries, he helped the 
churches, he carried on the wise laws that Toussaint 
L’Ouverture had made, and he divided the land of 
the massacred colonists equably among the blacks 
in the hope that a sense of proprietorship might 
induce them to work. He died, a few years later, in 
the melancholy knowledge that none of his reforms 
would remain, that the black had no desire to learn, 
could not sustain civilization unless it were forced 
on him, and would not work without the whip. 

The North had passed under the hands of a 
domineering tyrant, Christophe, a negro from one 
of the neighboring islands and with Carib blood in 
his veins. Of the three outstanding Haitians of this 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 


91 

period, Toussaint was the wisest, Dessalines the 
most cruel, but Christophe had the most powerful 
personality. He was the builder of Sans Souci and 
La Ferriere, the most splendid palace and the most 
astounding citadel that the brain of negro ever con¬ 
ceived, a citadel which, though partly ruined by 
earthquake and by time, immeasurably surpasses 
any similar work on the American continent. 

Christophe made himself '' The Black Emperor ” 
in truth as well as in name. No court was ever 
more brilliant and colorful in its barbaric splendor 
than that of Emperor Christophe—and in none was 
a courtieFs life less safe. He was an indefatigable 
worker, a man of vision, a constructive genius, a 
slave-driver of slave-drivers, a man intoxicated with 
his own power. He was a Master-Spirit, but a mas¬ 
ter-spirit of Terror. And, in his negro heart, the 
fear which he gave to others became his master. 
He was pursued by ghosts, and even rum gave him 
no respite. 

One day, in church, he fell, paralyzed. The news 
spread. The workers dropped their tools and at¬ 
tacked Christophers slave-drivers—for not even the 
Spanish, at their worst, were as merciless as Chris¬ 
tophe. Rebellion arose, and the Emperor was not 
strong enough to repress it. The suddenly created 



92 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

nobility—France in all her glory never had half so 
many Dukes, Field-Marshals, Grand Royal Cup- 
Bearers, Chief Royal Grand Huntsmen and the rest 
'—felt the sting of public hate. Most of them were 
killed outright. Out of the fourteen Ladies of Honor 
to the Queen, only one survived. City after city re¬ 
volted. The tom-toms sounded and the Papaloi 
uttered incendiary prophecies. 

The royal troops rose in rebellion. Then Chris- 
tophe, seeing that all was lost, resolved to die an 
emperor, as he had lived. Though the troops were 
hammering at the gates, he bathed, dressed himself 
royally, and, in his rose-colored marble palace of 
Sans Souci, shot himself. That night, faithful 
friends carried the Emperor’s body up the terrific 
climb to the stupendous citadel of La Ferriere, and 
carried fifteen millions of dollars, too. The body 
was put in quick-lime, that none of the Emperor’s 
enemies should desecrate it. The dollars have never 
been found. 

General Boyer, who succeded Petion in the south 
—the chivalrous Boyer who flirted with Napoleon’s 
sister, the gay Pauline, while her husband was try¬ 
ing to subdue Toussaint—then seized all the island, 
declared it a Republic and made himself Governor 
for life. He died in exile. 


THE ISLAND OF BLOOD 93 

The story of Haiti during its century as a Re¬ 
public is not quite so grim as the history of its 
twenty years of empire, but the emperors accom¬ 
plished something, and the presidents accomplished 
nothing. Several of them were assassinated or 
committed suicide. Most of the rest were banished, 
or fled. Civil war, brigandage, tyranny, graft, 
neglect, idleness, ruin and decay is the record of 
black rule in Haiti between the suicide of Emperor 
Christophe and the coming of the U. S. Marines. 

Twice, for brief periods, mulatto presidents 
slightly halted the downward plunge, but, under 
black rulers, Haiti has not had six months of decent 
government in a century. It was on the tip of War¬ 
ren’s tongue to add that she never could have, but 
his life lay in Squat Pierre’s hands. 

The Cacos chief had listened carefully, though the 
recital had lasted nearly all the morning, and though 
he knew most of it before. Then he replied, 
shrewdly: 

The whites say that the black has failed in 
Haiti, because black ways are not white ways. 
They say we have failed because there are not 
motor-cars on the roads, nor electric lights in the 
villages. Is that all the white can give us? Are the 
whites happier than the blacks? They do not 


94 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

seem so. Our wants are few, but we can fill them 
without work or worry. Why should we make our 
wants to be many, so that we must become slaves 
in order to gratify them? 

You have said hard words of Dessalines, White 
Boy? yet he freed us from the work-slavery of the 
whip—and the whip was only to fill the pockets of 
the white planter. The Americans want to put us 
under a new slavery, the work-slavery of industry— 
and that is only to fill the pockets of the white 
manufacturer and merchant. 

Haiti is for the Haitians. Why should not the 
black live in his own way? The white is not in¬ 
fallible, though he thinks himself to be. We are not 
such fools as to be blind to the fact that white in¬ 
terference in Haiti is due to white commercial greed. 

The blacks, in Haiti, have harmed no one out¬ 
side their island. Haiti is ours. Why should not we 
be left alone? If the white is not content with the 
black’s rule, let him stay away. What do you say to 
that. White Boy? ” 

Vague phrases of progress ” and civilization ” 
flashed through Warren’s mind, but he saw at once 
that these were but white men’s notions. To the 
negro leader’s question, he found no sufficient an¬ 
swer. 



Trained by the Marines, these riflemen tie France for second place in the world’s “shoot-off 
at the Olympic games. Photo taken at Haiti during the festivities on their return. 




Marines on duty at the Centennial Fair at Rio de Janeiro have a picturesque encampment in the heart of 
the Brazilian capital. The photo shows the encampment decorated for the laying of a corner-stone of a 
monument, presented by Portugal to Brazil, which is to be erected on the camp site now occupied 
by the Marines, as an evidence of the friendly relations existing between the 

Portuguese and Brazilian Governments. 








CHAPTER VI 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 

Squat Pierre was as good as his word. He lost 
little time in sending a formidable armed band to 
the village where Warren had lived, and in forcing 
the negroes, there, to transport the logs of rare 
wood to the coast. The boy accompanied the party 
as a guide. 

Since the Cacos chief was a refugee, actually listed 
by the U. S. Marines as among the bandit leaders 
who must be reduced to submission, he dared not 
actually enter the town of Jacmel. It was a tribute 
to his appreciation of Warren’s honesty that he al¬ 
lowed the boy to transact the business. He put the 
“white” on honor not to betray the fact that his 
captor was in hiding, near by. 

Warren made the deal, as requested, and brought 
back the money—^which was really his own—putting 
it into the hands of the bandit chief. They re¬ 
turned to the camp on the summit of the Loma 
Diego, the boy having thoroughly established him¬ 
self in Squat Pierre’s confidence. 

The months of summer passed and Warren learned 

95 


96 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

a good deal about the ways and methods of guer¬ 
rilla warfare, though he did not accompany the 
Cacos chief on any of his outlaw campaigns, and, 
indeed, tried his best to persuade Squat Pierre to 
abandon them. 

Little by little, the talks of Warren and of John 
Ames—the captive U. S. Marine—worked upon the 
mind of the Cacos chief, who, like most negroes, 
unconsciously submitted to the influence of a white 
man. Ames had practically been set at liberty, 
though he was kept under constant watch. 

At last, under Warren's urging, Ames was set 
free entirely. Squat Pierre sent the Marine back to 
his post, with a letter to the Commanding Officer, 
declaring his willingness to abstain from bandit ex¬ 
peditions in that district, if the Marines would 
acknowledge his political leadership and aspirations. 
This was a ticklish matter. The Americans used 
every endeavor to keep out of politics, while assum¬ 
ing indirect control in the interests of law and order; 
at the same time, the U. S. Marine officers tried their 
uttermost to bring the Cacos chiefs to submission by 
peaceful means, whenever possible. 

It was out of the question, therefore, for the 
Americans to support Squat Pierre's political ambi¬ 
tions, but the bandit's action in voluntarily releas- 



QUELLING THE BANDITS 97 

ing his prisoner saved him from a punitive expedi¬ 
tion which the Marines had planned for the early 
months of autumn, before the rains. The Com¬ 
manding Officer, also, went out of his way to estab¬ 
lish a neutral relationship with the Cacos chief. 

Warren’s standing as go-between in these negotia¬ 
tions gave him a peculiar position of trust both with 
Squat Pierre and with the Marines. To the white 
men, Warren’s knowledge of the country and of the 
Creole mountain dialects was exceedingly useful. As 
for Squat Pierre, the white boy’s common sense and 
understanding of the delicate political position kept 
the bandit chief from engaging in many a raid which 
would have put him in bad odor with the forces of 
the Occupation, and which, likely enough, would 
have brought a swift punishment. 

Rather to the boy’s surprise, although this posi¬ 
tion with a foot in either camp should have made 
him an object of suspicion among the blacks, his 
attitude as a go-between was accepted by them as a 
matter of course. 

The story of his escape from the Papaloi had be¬ 
come greatly magnified by popular report, the Voo¬ 
doo priests having been forced to invent a specious 
and stupendous story to explain the death of the 
Papaloi and their own flight. Warren, therefore, 


98 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

was regarded with superstitious respect, for the 
blacks could understand the defeat of Voodoo magic 
only by thinking of a stronger magic. 

Quite unofficially—for he was too young to ob¬ 
tain any official post—the boy became attached to 
the Haitian Gendarmerie in the recognized capacity 
of a guide. This Gendarmerie was a Native Con¬ 
stabulary Force which had been organized by the 
United States Navy Department; its ranks were 
composed of native Haitians, and it was commanded 
by U. S. Marine officers and non-commissioned 
officers. 

Warren’s work therein was exceedingly hazardous, 
for large numbers of the blacks regarded the Cacos 
brigand chiefs as their sole hope for escaping from 
the new white domination—that of the Marines. 
As the Cacos were in open revolt against the ad¬ 
ministration, which was officially supported by the 
Americans, the Gendarmerie had, as one of its prin¬ 
cipal tasks, the hunting down and the suppression 
of these bandit chiefs. 

It was while acting as an Interpreter and Guide 
that Warren persuaded a Lieutenant of the Gen¬ 
darmerie—^who formerly had been a Corporal of the 
Marines—to explain to him just how it came about 
that the United States found it necessary to occupy 




QUELLING THE BANDITS 99 

the island, both the western half, Haiti, and the 
eastern half, San Domingo. 

Haven’t you got that straight! ” exclaimed the 
Lieutenant, in surprise. '' I thought every one in 
Haiti knew that! ” 

'‘How would I hear?” Warren replied. “ Td 
never been away from the interior until I got mixed 
up with Squat Pierre, and Father died more than 
two years ago. The blacks don’t know.” 

" Well, you ought to be put wise, that’s sure as 
shootin’! I can tell you something about it, for 
I’ve seen this Haitian business, right from the start. 
I was one of the bunch which landed from the Wash- 
ington in Port au Prince the very day that-” 

"What brought you here first?” interrupted 
Warren. 

" You want me to work the yarn from the keel 
up, do you? ” returned the old-timer. " Well, I can 
only tell you what I’ve seen an’ heard, myself, an’ 
I know a durn sight more about drill ’n diplomacy! 
But, the way I look at it, the happenings were 
something like this: 

"Haiti hadn’t seen anything except civil war, 
murder, superstition, ignorance, an’ government 
graft for a century an’ more. You couldn’t ha’ found 
a worse-run country in the world, nowhere! An’ yet. 




loo WITH THE U. S. MARINES 


Haiti could be one o^ the richest spots on earth. 
Anything an’ everything ’ll grow here. Properly 
governed, this island could be a gold-mine, an’ that 
without overmuch work. 

But it won’t be, so long as the black man has 
anything to do with runnin’ it, you can bank on 
that. He doesn’t know how to govern, he wouldn’t 
do it properly even' if he did know how, an’ he 
hasn’t moral grit enough to keep things runnin’ 
honestly for a month, even if he wanted to. As long 
as the black man rules, poverty, disease, an’ igno¬ 
rance ’ll go on, right as before. Negro self-govern¬ 
ment for Haiti is just piffle, an’ it always will be. 
That’s my notion, at least, an’ I reckon the rest of 
the Leathernecks, here, think about like me.” 

But if the blacks like it that way? ” put in 
Warren, remembering Squat Pierre’s words. “ After 
all, it’s their country! ” 

The Gendarmerie Lieutenant shrugged his shoul¬ 
ders. 

“ That sort o’ thing’s beyond me,” he replied. 
“ I’m supposed to be here to help try an’ civilize a 
lot o’ half-baked barbarians, neither savage nor 
civilized. Whether they’ll be any better off, at the 
end, according to their own ideas, isn’t my concern; 
it’s a cinch that they’ll have gone ahead, accordin’ 


QUELLING THE BANDITS loi 

to ours. Of course, the minute we quit, they’ll let 
everything slide back to rack an’ ruin, well under¬ 
stood. But we’re supposed to put ’em on their feet 
for a decent start. Makin’ inferior races try an’ 
keep step with modern progress is what folks call 
the ‘ white man’s burden,’ isn’t it? 

“ To get on with the yarn! Durin’ all this time 
o’ misgovernment, the few white folks who were 
livin’ in Haiti, bein’ bossed by the blacks, kept on 
beggin’ now one Power an’ now another, to step in, 
to put a stop to the orgy of graft an’ appropriation 
of foreigners’ properties, to check the epidemics of 
disease, an’ to start some kind o’ schoolin’. They 
wanted a stable government, too, instead of havin’ 
to put up with a revolution every month or two. 

Naturally, the European nations had to keep out 
o’ the mess, because of the Monroe Doctrine. That 
put it squarely up to us. But Congress didn’t want 
to interfere in Haiti, either. The United States 
isn’t strong on annexation, an’ it’s our policy to act 
as the protector of small nations. As you just said, 
Haiti may be rottenly run by the blacks, but it’s 
their own country. So we sent down doctors an’ 
nurses whenever the epidemics got a bit worse than 
usual, lent them money, gave them barrels of good 
advice an’ all that fatherly sort o’ stuff. There 


102 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

wasn’t any official interference in Haitian affairs 
until after the World War had broken out. 

Then the United States Navy began keepin’ its 
eye peeled. The Caribbean is home waters. The 
German armies had dishonored the treaties, smashed 
through Belgium, an’ invaded France, they had 
talked big an’ threatened to invade England, an’ 
their commerce-destroyers were beginnin’ to get gay 
with American shippin’. The British fleets had 
chased the German ones into their holes, an’ were 
keepin’ ’em there. But there was no sayin’ if they 
mightn’t break out, secretly, sometime, an’ a place 
like Haiti, neutral, would be a handy base for Ger¬ 
man submarines. That didn’t look good to the 
American Navy. We Leathernecks weren’t any too 
cordial over Woodrow Wilson’s little ‘ notes,’ for we’d 
got it flgured out that, for the sake of American 
honor, we’d oughter get into the scrap. I’m tellin’ 
you, right now, that ‘ peace at any price ’ isn’t ever 
goin’ to be written on a U. S. Marine flag! 

‘‘Now, it’s the Navy’s first business to protect 
American coasts, and it’s the Marines’ first business 
to see that those coasts stay guarded, if anything 
happens on shore. We do it, too! The Panama 
Canal is a key point both to the Atlantic an’ Pacific 
shores o’ the States, an’, Besides, it’s America’s busi- 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 103 

ness to see that it keeps its international character. 
Eight different times Uncle Sam has had to send the 
Leathernecks to Panama just to show those folks 
whaPs what. Naturally, with the World War 
menace, fleets were kept in readiness not far from 
both ends of the Canal, an’ the Marines were ready 
to jump ashore in case o’ need. 

Here’s where we come to Haiti. This island has 
a lot o’ strategic importance. It’s not far from the 
Panama Canal, it’s right close to the mouth of the 
Mississippi, an’ it commands both the Gulf o’ 
Mexico an’ the Caribbean Sea. It’s sure not a place 
to be allowed to fall into the hands of any power 
unfriendly to the United States.” 

“I can see that,” Warren agreed, “though I’d 
never thought of it.” 

“ It’s important, just the same. About that time, 
the summer of 1915, there was one 0 ’ the usual revo¬ 
lutions goin’ on here. With a World War steamin’ 
ahead under forced draught, ’most anything might 
happen. Anybody could have taken the disturbance 
in Haiti as an excuse for buttin’ in. The U. S. Navy 
Department kept a sharp lookout. Believe me, 
there was nothin’ that got by! 

“ What really put the match to the high explosive 
powder-barrel of Haiti was the assassination of 


104 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

President Guillaume Sam, July 28, 1915. Now, I’m 
not denyin’ that the Haitians have a perfect right 
to assassinate their own president every day in the 
week, if it makes ’em feel happy, but the point o’ 
this case was that President Sam was taken out o’ 
the French Legation an’ killed at the gate, although 
he had taken shelter in the Legation after having 
been wounded by revolutionists in a street fight the 
day afore. 

A Legation, as you know, or oughter know, is 
considered the same as if it was territory actually 
belongin’ to the foreign nation which it represents. 
Stormin’ an entrance to the French Legation was an 
act of invasion. This violation of French territory 
in Haiti gave the assassination of President Sam an 
international twist. 

Then, to make it all the worse, the Haitian 
blacks carved the president’s body into pieces an’ 
carried the bloody arms, legs an’ head all over the 
city, on poles, paradin’ the relics an’ announcin’ 
that they were goin’ to do the same to every white 
man on the island an’ to every black who didn’t 
actually belong to their particular political party. 
That made it high time for some one to jump in. 
We did the jumpin’. France, very courteously, 
asked our permission to send some French Marines 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 105 

ashore, too. We agreed, of course, an’ they came, 
later. A snappy little bunch they were, too! ” 

Why did the French ask permission, since it was 
their Legation that had been attacked? ” 

“ The Monroe Doctrine,” answered the Gendar¬ 
merie Lieutenant, tersely, ‘Us a barbed-wire en¬ 
tanglement that it’s healthy to keep out of. We 
don’t interfere in European territory; Europe isn’t 
to interfere on the American continent. That’s that! 

All that revolutionary July, trouble had been 
poppin’ in Haiti, and shootin’ was gettin’ to be even 
more promiscuous ’n usual. The Navy sent the 
Washington and the Eagle to Cap Haitien, and 
landed a few Marines there, to protect American 
interests, and, incidentally, to safeguard all other 
foreign lives an’ property. It wasn’t any too soon. 

‘‘ The Government was overthrown on July 27, 
and President Sam was wounded in the street¬ 
fighting. That night he took refuge in the French 
Legation, like I told you. 

When the news reached Cap Haitien, the Wash¬ 
ington got up steam and went on to the capital, 
Port au Prince, at full speed. When we got there, 
early in the momin’. Admiral Caperton found the 
city was under a reign of terror an’ that the English 
an’ French ofiicials had cabled to their respective 


io6 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

countries for warships to be sent. As I said before, 
in war-time it doesn’t do to take any chances, even 
though the Germans had shown that they hadn’t 
any stomach for sea-fightin’. 

It was that same day, before any other warships 
besides the Washington had arrived, that the French 
Legation was forced, the wounded president taken 
out, killed an’ dismembered. The Dominican Lega¬ 
tion was looted, too, an’ several people were killed 
there. 

Here, Warren, is where the Marines come in. 
There was work to do, an’ no one but the Marines 
could do it. It wouldn’t have been fair to turn the 
guns of the Washington on the city an’ to rain in 
heavy shells, though it would only ha’ taken about 
a quarter of an hour to smash Port au Prince into 
bits about the size o’ breakfast food. That would 
ha’ killed several hundred people, too, women an’ 
children included. See what I mean? That wasn’t 
a naval gunnery job. What was heeded was a few 
husky birds to perambulate that city an’ keep those 
obstreperous darkies in order. Order? That’s us! 

“ Just before dusk, we Marines and some Blue¬ 
jackets waltzed ashore. Three companies of sailors 
formed the First Battalion, two companies o’ 
Marines made up the Second Battalion. A Marine 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 107 

Officer was in command o’ both. The Bluejackets 
got ashore without interference. Our Battalion was 
shot at, quite a bit, mainly by snipers from the 
woods. But those blacks don’t know how to shoot 
an’ they never heard about keepin’ a rifle-barrel 
clean. None of our men were hit. We returned the 
fire, baggin’ two Haitians and ten wounded. That 
took some o’ the wind out o’ their sails, an’ the 
snipin’ stopped. It was nigh dark when we marched 
into the city itself, a couple o’ miles away, but by 
midnight we had those streets so quiet that a mouse 
wouldn’t ha’ dared to squeak without goin’ to the 
Officer o’ the Watch an’ askin’ leave. 

“ The Admiral had cabled for reinforcements. 
Next day the Jason brought some more Leather¬ 
necks from Cuba, all of ’em eager to get into the 
fun. The revolutionists tried to rush our bivouac 
in the market-place that afternoon. They were 
sorry for it, though. They got peppered, good an’ 
plenty, an’ left several dead lyin’ around, because 
a Marine hasn’t any excuse for missin’ a man he 
aims at. They got two of our Bluejackets, though. 

** Next day a French warship arrived an’ landed a 
guard for the Legation, an’, four days later, the 
Connecticut reached Port au Prince with five com¬ 
panies of the Second Regiment of Marines (528 en- 


io8 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 


listed men) and full war equipment, includin’ light 
field artillery.” 

That ought to have held the Cacos! ” com¬ 
mented Warren. 

It did! Field guns look powerful sinister in city 
streets, I’m tellin’ you! 

‘‘ Things weren’t goin’ so smoothly at Cap Haitien, 
though. There were only twenty Marines there. 
Bobo, the head trouble-maker o’ the revolution, tried 
to rush Cap Haitien. But the gunners aboard the 
Eagle had been achin’ for a chance to do some 
shootin’ that wasn’t just target practice. The five- 
pounders opened fire, an’, from what I heard, the 
speed at which Bobo beat it back to the woods 
would ha’ done credit to a frightened kangaroo. 

Under the control o’ the Marines, order was soon 
restored. With us controllin’ the ballotin’, a proper 
election was held. President Dartiguenave was 
elected, all shipshape, an’ Bristol fashion, although 
the Cacos had declared that they were goin’ to shoot 
up the island an’ would push the Americans into the 
sea if Bobo didn’t get the presidential chair. I 
never heard that their threats worried us any. 
Bobo did start ructions, though, all over the island, 
so more Leathernecks were sent for to come along 
an’ take a hand in the game. 


(QUELLING THE BANDITS 109 

By the end of August, there were 2,000 Marines 
on land duty in Haiti, with full war equipment, in¬ 
cludin' heavy field artillery. It sounds like a lot, 
eh? But there was about 2,500 square miles o' 
territory in the hands o' the Cacos chiefs, an', since 
we’d put Dartiguenave in power, it was up to us 
to see that he had a fair chance. We’ve got to stay 
until all the Cacos chiefs have come to time, or else 
^ gone where the good niggers go.' You know for 
yourself, better’n anybody, what a job that’s been, 
an' it's not all done yet. Just to dislodge Squat 
Pierre, alone, would need an intensive campaign. 
As for what we’re doin', now, you know all about 
that!" 

'' I don't! " protested Warren. “ I've heard some 
talk about a lot of things you've done, but only in¬ 
directly. There was that famous Grande Rivike 
reconnaissance, for example. According to what 
Squat Pierre told me, half-a-dozen of you cleaned 
.up a whole countryside in heroic fashion.” 

The Gendarmerie Lieutenant gave a movement 
of impatience at the word heroic”; it is not a 
Marine's word. 

'' They had to where they were told to go, if that's 
what you mean,” he corrected. “I don't know 
much about it, myself. I wasn’t with Major But- 


no WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

ler’s party, that day. But here —^he reached down 
an official report from the shelf—if you like 
I’ll read you the radio dispatch sent by Butler to 
the Navy Department. Naturally, he’s cut it short 
an’ there ain’t any frills, but if you want to see 
how the boys have been handling things, maybe it’ll 
give you an idea. 

“ It begins this way-” and he read: 

“‘Arrived at La Valliere, 11 a. m. 26th. After 
dark, evening of 24th, while command was cross¬ 
ing river in deep ravine, we were suddenly fired 
upon by about 400 Cacos, hidden in bushes 100 
yards from the ford: one horse killed. Fought our 
way forward to good position and remained there 
for the night, surrounded by Cacos, who kept up a 
continuous but poorly aimed fire. We returned fire 
only when necessary to repel actual advances to¬ 
wards us. Owing to our good position, no men were 
injured. 

“ ‘ At daybreak, three squads, which had been 
covering our position during the night, advanced in 
three different directions, surprising and chasing the 
Cacos on, all sides. Eight Cacos killed and ten 
wounded; many more reported. One Marine 
wounded. 

“ ‘ Fort Dipitie, a strong position, was captured 
with 13 Marines; the whole garrison put to flight. 
Demolished and burned the fort; all three squads 
burned all houses from which gun-fire had been com¬ 
ing. Swept the district clear of all Cacos within one 
mile. 



QUELLING THE BANDITS 111 

' At 8:30 A. M. continued our advance to Grosse 
Roche. Isolated sniping from our flanks and rear 
at long range. No casualties. Reached Grosse 
Roche at 1 p. m. Small town, entirely deserted. 

‘ Continued advance to La Valliere at 5 p. m.; 
heavy rainstorm caused rise of twelve feet in the 
river in 30 minutes. Continuous march along the 
river until 6 p. m., when floods made farther progress 
impossible; lost two horses and two donkeys; men 
and other animals saved only by good luck and 
hard work. Remained for night on river bank after 
making repairs to outflts. Continued advance to La 
Valliere at 8:30 a. m., 26th. 

^ Men and animals have had no rest ^ for 55 
hours; have marched on foot over mountains and 
rough trails 40 miles in two days on three meals. 
Region to the west alive with hostile Cacos. This 
march has been most diflicult, but officers and men 
in splendid shape, and their behavior throughout 
admirable beyond description.’ ” 


Warren drew a long breath of appreciation. 

“ No wonder the Cacos are getting ready to quit,” 
said he. 

''But they’re not, Boy! Don’t you make any 
mistake about that. Every week or two, since, 
there’s been flghtin’ of about the same kind. Even 
you, brought up in the country, haven’t got any idea 
of what a job it is to clean up a mountainous and 
wooded country, with only a handful of men. The 
takin’ of Fort Capois, Fort Selon, Fort Riviere, Fort 


112 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Croix de Bouquet, an’ the rest, all meant the hardest 
kind o’ mar chin’ an’ some pretty snappy fightin’.” 

“ It’s a wonder that casualties have been so few.” 

Nine times out of ten,” the Gendarmerie Lieu¬ 
tenant replied, the prevention of casualties is up 
to the know-how of the officers. Right here and 
now, I could name you twenty cases, in Haiti, where 
squads of Marines would have been wiped out to a 
man, if the loo’tenants hadn’t handled the cruise 
just so. ^ The Luck o’ the Marines ’ is all right to 
talk about, but most o’ that ‘ luck ’ is due to good 
leadin’ an’ to spunky obedience to orders. Besides, 
old-timers can stand doin’ without food an’ sleep. 
They’ll growl like lions with the pip, but hard goin’ 
doesn’t break their morale. 

“ Then, I’ll have to admit that the Cacos are 
rotten poor fighters. One single trained military 
man among the Cacos chiefs would have made the 
job too big to handle. If old Toussaint were still 
alive, leadin’ those Cacos against us, he’d ha’ made 
fightin’ men out o’ those fire-an’-run-away niggers, 
an’ we’d be lucky just to hold our own on the coast. 

“When opposin’ forces are of equal military ef¬ 
ficiency, what counts most is numbers; but a dozen 
trained men with good equipment, led by an officer 
who knows his business, can make hay with a couple 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 113 

o’ liundred rapscallions without any battle-plan or 
leader, an’ tryin’ to shoot with their rifle-barrels 
lookin’ like a garbage can. Trainin’ is what counts. 
You never heard o’ the Marines gettin’ licked, did 
you? An’ you never will! ” 

“ But this Gendarmerie; they’re not Marines! ” 

“ Sure they’re not, but they’re beginnin’ to get 
some o’ the right spirit. The negro makes a good 
soldier, a corkin’ good soldier, when he’s taught what 
to do, an’ told when an' how to do it. Alone, he 
isn’t worth shucks, but a negro regiment, led by 
white officers, can fight, an’ don’t you forget it! 
Ever since the United States Congress authorized 
the service of us birds in the Gendarmerie we’ve 
screwed it up to a pretty high notch. Right now, 
the biggest civilizing agent in Haiti is this same 
Gendarmerie. We’ve got our little ways o’ per¬ 
suasion, eh! ” 

The winter of 1917-1918 was a busy one for War¬ 
ren. He had become popular with the Marines, all 
the more because he seized every chance to learn 
Marine ways, he volunteered for the drills and be¬ 
cause he had turned out a crack rifle shot, though 
his revolver work was below par. In spite of the 
fact that he had no official position, the boy con¬ 
sidered himself almost a member of the Gendar- 


114 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

merie, and it had become his great ambition to join 
the Marine Corps as soon as he should be old enough 
to enlist. 

On July 12, 1918, the Republic of Haiti, which 
was really a negro government operating under the 
direction of Rear-Admiral Knapp, of the United 
States Navy (Military Administrator of the Do¬ 
minican Republic, as well as Military Representa¬ 
tive of the United States in Haiti), declared war on 
Germany and the Central Powers, thus constituting 
herself an Ally. 

Santo Domingo, which had passed under the 
Military Administration of the United States, with 
an admiral as Military Governor, and Marines as 
his principal persuaders,’’ forms another example 
of the efficiency of the Marine Corps. The restora¬ 
tion and development of Santo Domingo strikingly 
illustrate the value of the Monroe Doctrine as a 
basis of political agreement and reveal the Ameri¬ 
can Navy and Marines in the role of worthy up¬ 
holders of that doctrine. 

In 1904, owing to the unceasing revolutions en¬ 
gineered by politicians of Santo Domingo to obtain 
control of the Government, the National Treasury 
and the Custom-houses were looted to equip rival 
brigand bands. As a result, the time came when 



Trouble for somebody! “The Marines have landed!” 











tn 


O 


4 -> 00 




QUELLING THE BANDITS 115 

the existing Government—such as it was—could 
neither pay the debts of the Republic, nor even any 
interest upon them. Several foreign governments, 
which had lent money to Santo Domingo, found 
themselves obliged to force repayment. They de¬ 
manded, on the part of each, that a port custom¬ 
house should be put into their hands as a guaranty 
for the collection of these debts. 

To a certain extent, this was an attack on sov¬ 
ereignty, and Santo Domingo appealed to the United 
States for assistance. Since it was inadvisable to 
give foreign governments a naval base on the Gulf 
of Mexico, a treaty was finally signed, in 1907, by 
which the United States agreed to fund the foreign 
debt of Santo Domingo and to place the Dominican 
Republic on a paying basis, securing its loan by 
undertaking the collection of all customs duties. 

The Dominicans, with true negro inconsistency, 
could not keep their share of the bargain. For nine 
years, revolution succeeded revolution. At last, the 
World War arousing a fear lest Santo Domingo 
might fall into the hands of an unfriendly Power, 
the United States Congress established a Military 
Government in Santo Domingo on November 29, 
1916. The Marines took over the Dominican 
National Guard, and, after three years' strenuous 


ii6 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

effort, wiped out banditry in Santo Domingo. 
Five years later, the Dominican Republic became 
peaceful, progressive, and prosperous. The touch of 
the Marines upon the land had brought about ef¬ 
ficiency and control. 

Although Haiti and the Dominican Republic lie 
side by side, on the same island, and the racial strain 
is similar, there is a great difference in the character 
of the people of the two countries. While equally 
ignorant, equally backward, and equally given to 
revolutions, the Dominicans are more easily led, 
accept education more readily, and—possibly be¬ 
cause of the stronger Spanish strain in them—^pos¬ 
sess a certain pride which can be used as a lever to 
enhance their sense of self-respect. Voodooism, also, 
is much less prevalent than in Haiti. The Domin¬ 
icans are obedient Roman Catholics, and the Church 
has worked hand in hand with the progressive forces 
of the American Occupation. 

While Haiti officially had declared itself on the 
side of the Allies, and against Germany, this very 
declaration only served to reveal the fact that Ger¬ 
many was secretly engaged in stirring up revolt in 
the island. Two months after the declaration of a 
state of war, a serious revolution broke out under 
Charlemagne Peralte. Charlemagne was an ex- 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 117 

convict, without any military talent, and yet he 
proved himself the most formidable opponent among 
the Cacos chiefs. The capture of several German 
deserters, among his followers, explained the reason 
of his military knowledge. It was never definitely 
proved that these Germans had been sent to Haiti 
under official orders. 

Under Charlemagne, and his successor Benoit 
Batraville, skirmishes were of almost continuous oc^ 
currence all the winter and spring of 1917. Over a 
hundred minor engagements were recorded, and, in 
almost each of these, the slightest misdirection by 
the officers of the Haitian Gendarmerie might have 
resulted in heavy loss of life. It is to be remem¬ 
bered that many, if not most, of these officers were 
non-commissioned Marines. No higher testimony 
to the efficiency of Marine training could be given. 
Before conditions finally quieted down, after the 
slaying of Charlemagne and of Benoit Batraville, 
over 2,400 Haitians had been slain in this guerrilla 
warfare. The death-losses among the Marines and 
the Gendarmerie were less than 150 men. 

Perhaps the clearest manner of showing how these 
two outlaw leaders were finally removed from 
troubling the security of Haiti is found in the Navy 
Order awarding Medals of Honor to two U. S. 


,ii8 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Marines who led the fight against Charlemagne 
Peralte. Its very brevity enhances the splendid 
dignity of the story. The award reads: 

The Navy Department takes pleasure in an¬ 
nouncing to the Service the award of a Medal of 
Honor to Herman H. Hanneken, second-lieutenant, 
U. S. Marine Corps, and to William R. Button, 
corporal, U. S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary 
heroism in the line of their profession, and for their 
eminent and conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity 
in actual conflict with the enemy near Grande 
Riviere, Republic of Haiti, on the night of Oct. 
31-Nov. 1, 1919. 

Information having been received at District 
Headquarters that Charlemagne Peralte, the su¬ 
preme bandit chief of the Republic of Haiti, accom¬ 
panied by about 1,200 outlaw followers, had arrived 
in the vicinity of Capois, Haiti, with the avowed 
purpose of capturing and pillaging the town of 
Grande Riviere, permission was granted Second- 
Lieutenant Hanneken, then a sergeant (Captain, 
Gendarmerie d^Haiti) U. S. Marine Corps, to carry 
into execution previously arranged plans for the 
capture of the bandit chief. Selecting about 20 
gendarmes, all of whom were appropriately dis¬ 
guised, Hanneken and Button, on the night of Octo¬ 
ber 31, 1919, took position where they might ob¬ 
serve the movements of Charlemagne. 

About 700 bandits having been observed mak¬ 
ing their way to Grande Riviere, it was decided to 
endeavor to capture Charlemagne in his camp, where 
it was understood he purposed to remain and re¬ 
ceive reports of the result of the pending attack 
upon the town of Grande Riviere. 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 119 

“ After about three hours^ difficult mountain 
climbing, through a country overrun with bandits, 
the first of the six outposts guarding Charlemagne’s 
camp was reached. Due to the effectiveness of 
their disguise, and aided by the darkness and the 
assuring replies made to the challenges and the 
exammations of the enemy sentinels, this outpost 
was successfully passed, as were the four succeed¬ 
ing ones. The sixth outpost was the immediate 
guard over Charlemagne, being about 30 paces from 
the person of the bandit chief. 

Advancing rapidly towards Charlemagne, who 
apparently had been led to believe that the persons 
approaching him were members of his band with 
reports from the assault upon Grande Riviere, 
Hanneken, armed with two revolvers, and Button, 
armed with a light Browning machine-gun, were 
suddenly halted by two bandits who handled their 
rifles in a threatening manner. 

“ Believing that no further time was to be lost, 
Hanneken promptly opened fire upon Charlernagne, 
and Button with equal promptness turned his ma¬ 
chine-gun upon the remaining bandits, who were 
seeking cover. The surprise attack was a complete 
success, and the dead bodies of Charlemagne and 
nine of his bodyguard were found in the camp. The 
bandits, however, continued their fire throughout 
the night upon the position held by Hanneken and 
his force, and during the march to Grande Riviere, 
on Nov. 1, 1919, several bands of outlaws, return¬ 
ing from their unsuccessful attack upon Grande 
Riviere, were encountered and dispersed. 

‘‘ Second-Lieutenant Hanneken and Corporal But¬ 
ton not only distinguished themselves by their ex¬ 
cellent judgment and leadership, but at all times 


120 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

placed themselves unhesitatingly in great personal 
danger. Their movements took place at night and 
in a thickly wooded country overrun with several 
hundred well-armed bandits. At any time, the 
slightest hesitation or error of judgment would have 
forfeited not only their own lives, but the lives of 
the detachment of Gendarmerie under their com¬ 
mand. The successful termination of their mission 
will undoubtedly prove of untold value to the Re¬ 
public of Haiti.” 

The report of Captain Jesse L. Perkins, U. S. 
Marine Corps, described the killing of Benoit Batra- 
ville, the last of the famous Cacos chiefs. It runs: 

“ On May 18, 1920, I left the Marine camp at 
Mirebalais, Republic of Haiti, with orders from the 
regimental commander to go to Marche Canard and 
take charge of Second-Lieutenant Edgar K. Kirk¬ 
patrick and the 28 Marines who were operating in 
that section, and to continue the search for Benoit 
and his band, who were supposed to be in that 
vicinity. . . . Hearing that 200 bandits had left 
Morne Pierre ... I took Lieutenant Kirkpat¬ 
rick and 10 Marines and entered Petite Bois Peine 
at 1 A. M. May 19. 

“ At 6 A. M. we were discovered by an outpost of 
five men, who fired one shot at us, turned, and ran 
towards the main band further over on the moun¬ 
tain. I sent Lieutenant Kirkpatrick after the flee¬ 
ing patrol, who went down a ravine near by, and 
with 3 men proceeded in the direction of the main 
camp as fast as we could go, my scheme being to 
enter the main camp and take Benoit by surprise 
before he could have a chance to escape. 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 121 

‘‘ As we reached the camp, we were subject to fire 
from perhaps a dozen rifles. The camp was located 
among many high rocks, covered with bushes and 
thickets, but at the same time right on the main 
trail that passes over the mountain. The entrance 
to the camp consisted of two large rocks, one on 
each side of the trail, and close to it, but so shaped 
as to form a natural cup with a natural entrance 

and exit. . , , , -xi. 

“ Sergeant Passmore was m the lead with a 

Browning automatic rifle, followed by myself and 
Sergeant Taubert. As we entered, Benoit raised his 
rifle and fired at us at a range of 10 feet. He was 
immediately shot down by Sergeant Passmore. No 
other bandits were in sight, but many were firing 
on us from the rocks above and around us. Lieu¬ 
tenant Kirkpatrick and the other Marines soon ar¬ 
rived and took up the fire with us. After about 15 
minutes, the entire band seemed to realize that their 
leader was killed, and they disappeared arnong the 
rocks and did not retreat in a group as usual. ^ Then 
we turned to examine Benoit, and he was m the 
act of rising and reaching for his revolver. ^ Hence 
it was necessary for Sergeant Taubert to finish kill¬ 
ing him. , ... , 

Benoit had either decided to stand his ground 

and fight, or was too surprised to run. He was 
armed with a Springfield rifle and a Colt ’"^^olver 
taken from the body of the late Lieutenant Muth. 
Besides the cartridges in his rifle and revolver, he 
carried about 20 rounds in a field-glass case hang¬ 
ing over his shoulder. An officer’s whistle and a 
bundle of his official papers and correspondence were 
also found on his person. He was barefooted, wore 
a straw hat, and ordinaiy blue clothes. . 


122 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

And, just a month later, on June 19, 1920, the 
brigade commander reported: 

‘‘ Yesterday, an active bandit chief named Castine 
Fede surrendered. This surrender practically com¬ 
pletes the surrender, capture or death of all the 
prominent active bandit chiefs. The pacification of 
Haiti may therefore be said to be complete.^’ 

That report was made only six years ago. Only 
eleven years have passed since the U. S. Marines 
first landed on that July afternoon when President 
Sam was dragged out from the French Legation. 
Yet it seems almost as if centuries of development 
and progress had passed over Haiti, so astounding 
is the change. 

There are roads athwart the island, along which 
motor-cars may and do run, roads which cross the 
most isolated and feared of Cacos haunts—^but the 
bandits are no more. There are thriving planta¬ 
tions, as in the long-ago French days, but the slave- 
drivePs whip is gone. The tom-toms beat in Haiti, 
as of old, but the Black Circle exists no more, or, 
in the few cases where it lingers still, it does so in 
secrecy and harmlessness, and the younger genera¬ 
tion heeds it not. Yellow fever and other epidemics 
are banished; modern surgery and medicine have 
taken the place of the charms of the Voodoo witch- 


QUELLING THE BANDITS 123 

doctor. Every importantj village has its school; 
every district is supervised by a Marine-led Gen¬ 
darmerie post. From one end of the island to the 
other, life is safe and justice is established. 

It is only by realizing the state of Voodoo ter¬ 
rorism and ignorance which brooded over Haiti in 
the dark old days that any fair idea can be secured 
of the miracle which has come to pass; only by 
understanding the Chaos that Was, can one take 
full measure of the Order that Is. 

By whom has this been achieved? By the U. S. 
Marines. By whom is it maintained? By the U. 
S. Marines. And whatsoever of happiness may come 
in Haiti's future is mainly dependent on the pluck, 
the consideration, and the good sense of a handful 
of Americans—little more than boys, most of them 
—who turned the bloody plague-spot of the Carib¬ 
bean into a thriving and self-respecting land. 


CHAPTER VII 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 

Having spent three years in an unofficial capacity 
as guide and interpreter to the officers of the Haitian 
Gendarmerie, as soon as Warren reached the recruit¬ 
ing age, he promptly applied for enlistment in the 
Marines. 

He had been wildly eager to have a chance to 
take part in the World War, for the tales of the 
marvellous prowess of the Leathernecks at Bois de 
Belleau, Soissons, and Blanc Mont Ridge had reached 
distant Haiti, and it was the firm conviction of 
every Marine, there, that the War was won on the 
very day that the first U. S. Marine detachment 
landed on French soil. Modesty is not a prevailing 
characteristic of the Marines, but neither do they 
boast. 

Since the World War had come to an end and the 

Marines were being demobilized, or, more exactly, 

brought back to their normal strength, there seemed 

little chance that the boy’s application would be 

approved, especially as he was anxious to be sent 

directly to the main eastern training station at 

124 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 125 

Quantico, Va. He was eager to get away from the 
police work of the Gendarmerie, of which he had 
seen more than enough. Besides, on two occasions 
he had been poisoned, once almost fatally, direct 
hints that the Voodoo priests had not forgotten him. 
He was sure of this, later, when he heard that Hip- 
polyte had been seen in the town. This attempt 
on his life and the fact that he had made firm 
friends with the officers, helped the boy’s chances, 
and an exception was made in his case. 

“ We’re not looking for more men, just now,” said 
the Captain of Marines, holding Warren’s applica¬ 
tion in his hand, and leaning back in his chair for 
a long, steady look at the young fellow, ‘‘but, as 
long as there are Marines, there’ll be need for the 
right kind of men. I’ve considered your applica¬ 
tion, and I’m inclined to grant it, for special reasons. 
We sha’n’t be out of Haiti for a good many years, 
that’s clear, and, with proper training, you might be 
useful, later on. I’ll give you a personal letter to 
the Commanding Officer at Quantico. 

“ Don’t get the idea that this will put you on a 
basis different from any one else! It won’t alter in 
the slightest degree the character of your training, 
for the only kind of favoritism in our Corps is the 
one which puts the best man at the top. But if 


126 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

you make good, this may give you a chance, later 
on. You^U have to make good, if only to justify 
my action in recommending you. I think I may 
say that your work, as adjunct to the Haitian Gen¬ 
darmerie, has been found entirely satisfactory.” 

Warren, flushing at this praise, thanked the of¬ 
ficer heartily, and went off in the highest spirits. 
Even so, a couple of months passed before the op¬ 
portunity came for him to leave Haiti. To the 
impatient boy, the time seemed endless until he 
arrived at the famous training station of the U. S. 
Marines, at Quantico, Va. 

This great training-ground was developed to a 
high point of efficiency during the World War. It 
is ideal for the purpose, consisting, as it does, of 
5,000 acres of rolling ground, excellent for training 
purposes. Under the extreme urgency of World 
War conditions, it had been developed into a vast 
instruction camp, with shooting-ranges for rifle fire, 
field artillery, and big guns; grenade ranges; dum¬ 
mies for bayonet practice; trenches of every kind 
developed in the War; poison-gas chambers for gas¬ 
mask practice; drill grounds, aviation field, hangars, 
in short, with the thousand and one things neces¬ 
sary for teaching modern warfare. The U. S. 
Marine must have a double training; he must learn 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 127 

the ways both of military and naval warfare, for 
the Leatherneck is forced to be an adept both on 
land and sea. 

In addition to all the requirements for technical 
training, Warren was surprised to see row after row 
of school buildings, equipped in the fullest degree 
for all ordinary instruction and for vocational train¬ 
ing. The Marine does not stay all his life in the 
Corps, as a rule, and it is the intention of Uncle 
Sam to send out every man into the world as thor¬ 
oughly prepared for the battle of life as he is 
equipped for the battles of the field and of the 
ocean. The steady discipline and the sound instruc¬ 
tion makes a Marine to be about as good a man as 
there is. 

Some idea of the varied work which falls to the 
lot of the Marine may be gained from the special 
schools at the Parris Island Recruit Depot, alone. 
Besides the training of privates, there was the Non- 
Commissioned Officers School, Field Music School, 
Radio School, Signal School, Band School, Clerical 
School, Pay School and the Cooks and Bakers 
School. At Quantico, in addition to every form 
of technical training-school, during the War there 
was an Overseas Depot with specialists’ schools for 
the technical training in infantry drill and machine- 


128 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

gun practice, the tactical department of instruction, 
and the enlisted staff school. While these schools 
are now merged in the general instruction at Quan- 
tico, the men have to learn the same subjects. On 
how large a scale this was carried out is evidenced 
from the fact that, during the eighteen months in 
which the United States took a share in the four- 
and-a-half-years-long World War, 1,000 officers and 
40,000 enlisted men passed through Quantico. 

The force at Quantico, when Warren arrived there, 
at its normal peace strength, consisted of nearly 
four thousand men organized as a small expedi¬ 
tionary brigade. One Infantry Regiment, the Fifth 
Marines, was maintained at its authorized comple¬ 
ment, in order to render training exercises thorough 
and complete. The Sixth Marines existed largely as 
a skeleton. 

The basic independent unit of organization was 
the platoon, and the platoon therefore became the 
principal training unit. The scheme followed dur¬ 
ing the War training, and still followed—^with some 
modifications—^was to assure to each unit, of what¬ 
ever size, a certain nucleus of enlisted instructors 
trained in the various specialties, in addition to the 
platoon commanders, who were qualified to carry on 
the instruction along approved lines within the unit. 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 129 

When four such platoons had been formed, they 
were assembled into a company. The company 
headquarters, trained in the enlisted staff school, 
was added to the four platoons and the company 
organization was turned over to the company com¬ 
mander, complete in all details. Battalions were 
likewise formed by the consolidation of companies. 
In every instance, the platoon, the company and the 
battalion carried out a regular schedule of drills 
under the supervision of the depot, but all adminis¬ 
trative details were left in the hands of the company 
and the battalion commanders. To Warren, who 
had seen nothing but the irregular drill of the few 
Marines on post duty in Haiti, this compact and 
well-managed organization was nothing short of 
marvellous. He was amazed to find how much there 
is to learn merely in obeying orders with precision 
and promptness, and he soon came to realize the 
enormous extent of knowledge which was required 
of his officers. 

In addition to these infantry regiments, which 
were organized in accordance with the approved 
Army Infantry schedules, there was an Artillery 
Regiment, the Tenth Marines. This was also re¬ 
duced to peace-time strength. Even so, it consisted 
of two battalions of field artillery, armed with 


130 WITH THE. U. S. MARINES • 

French 75’s, and one of heavy artillery, armed with 
the long type of 155-miUimeter guns. 

Besides these troops, there was an aviation de¬ 
tachment, made up of five squadrons equipped with 
a number of planes, including scouts and fighters, 
De Haviland 4-B’s, Douglas torpedo planes similar 
to those used by the round-the-world flyers, Martin 
bombers and several types of sea-planes. These 
flyers were—and are still—an integral part of the 
Marine Corps force, and are at all times under the 
orders of the commanding general at Quantico. 
Since Marines are supposed to be amphibians, they 
are trained in the use of both land- and sea-planes, 
and are taught the needs of naval war as well as 
of land combat. Such minor questions as photog¬ 
raphy, map-making, and a score of other points, all 
come in as a part of aviation training. 

In addition, the force at Quantico comprised a 
strong signal and communication organization, re¬ 
quiring the learning of telegraphy and telephony, 
both in use and in repair. There was a motor- 
transport organization, and a Marine had to be able 
to repair his car under fire, if necessary. In addi¬ 
tion to these was an engineer battalion, and en¬ 
gineers’ requirements form a long list. 

No one, who has not been a part of a military 






mimt 


I 



Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 


Marines as airplane mechanics. 

When an airplane proved too bulky for shipment on a transport, 
the U. S. Marines removed its wings. In this manner the plane 
was safely transported, and lowered oyer the side, where 
the wings were safely adjusted. 










l^OUR SHOTS AND FOUR HITS IN NINETEEN SECONDS. 
U. S. Marine gun crews hold high rank in naval gunnery, 



AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 131 

organization, has the faintest idea of the innumer¬ 
able things which have to be learned, for an army 
is practically a self-supporting unit of civilization 
in itself, and every trade and profession in the world 
must be known by some member of it, from bak¬ 
ing a loaf of bread or digging a sanitary ditch to 
teaching the most abstruse mathematics or con¬ 
structing vast engineering works. 

As a general rule, Marine Corps recruits are not 
sent directly to the main training stations at Quan- 
tico, Va., and San Diego, Cal. They spend three 
months in a recruit depot, such as that at Parris 
Island, S. C. Here the training is uniform and 
fundamental, without any form of specialization. 
The raw “ rookie ” is transformed from a civilian to 
a Marine, largely through the immediate direction of 
old Leatherneck non-commissioned officers. Their 
powers of persuasion—and fluency of speech—are 
calculated to galvanize the sloppiest recruit into 
quick obedience. They can “ teach a brass monkey 
to swim,” as their own saying goes. 

Those men are the old-timers, the Leathernecks, 
who regard the service as their home and war as a 
trade. Erect, hard, tanned brown by sea and trop¬ 
ical sun, afraid of nothing, a good many of them 
think the world was created solely as a place where 


132 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

nations get into trouble and where U. S. Marines 
may be sent to keep the trouble-makers in order. 

The last verse of the Marine Corps Hymn is typ¬ 
ical: 

‘Tf the Army and the Navy 

Ever look on Heaven’s scenes, 

They will find the streets are guarded 
By United States Marines. . . 

Warren liked that song and—since he had the 
stuff in him of which Marines are made—^he believed 
every word of it. He had seen Haiti transformed 
from a hot-bed of Voodooism and terrorism, back¬ 
ward, dirty, diseased, and corrupt, into a law-abiding 
island, growing in health and prosperity every day, 
thanks to the efforts of a handful of Marines. He 
did not doubt that the whole world could be made 
over, likewise, if the Marines took it in hand. 

Thanks to the special letter which Warren bore 
from his captain in Haiti, and which stated that 
the boy had been working and drilling with the 
Marines for three years already, that he had a fair 
understanding of military orders and was a com¬ 
petent marksman, the young fellow was allowed to 
go almost directly to Quantico, after a formal week’s 
stay in Parris Island, to satisfy the instructors there 
that he was sufficiently advanced for Quantico* 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 133 

Warren was anxious to qualify himself for the 
Engineer Battalion, since this was the most diver¬ 
sified, but, as an old-time drill-sergeant took pains 
to explain to him with emphasis and colorful speech, 
the new recruit ‘'hadn’t any more savvy than a 
canned sardine an’ no more kick than an empty 
cartridge j he didn’t know aft from for’ard, an he 
had a hole as big as a hatchway where his brains 
ought to be.” Warren had already learned better 
than to reply, and, for the time, gave up his en¬ 
gineer ambitions. 

As a matter of fact, the drill-sergeant was right. 
To qualify for the engineers needs a solid ground¬ 
work of learning. Warren lacked it. Although his 
father had done his best to give the lad the rudi¬ 
ments of an education, by tutoring him in spare 
time, there had been no schooling opportunities in 
a backwoods village in the mountain districts of 
Haiti, under black rule. Indeed, before he had been 
at Quantico many days, Warren realized that he 
would have his work cut out for him merely to arrive 
at the standard of efficiency needed for an ordinary 
Marine. He was eager to learn, and managed to 
add to his schedule all the hours of school that he 
could, but the demands of his training left him little 
time. Barrack duties were steady and unceasing. 


134 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

and idleness was something which had never passed 
the sentry-posts of Quantico. 

At the same time, Warren was lucky enough to 
arrive at the training-station a month or two before 
the date set for the annual manoeuvres. His father 
had been a Southerner, his grandfather a colonel in 
the Confederate Army. Naturally, the boy knew 
his Civil War history by heart, and he was wild 
with joy when he heard that the Marines were to 
manoeuvre, that year, over the historic battle¬ 
ground of the Wilderness. It was the very point 
where his grandfather had been personally compli¬ 
mented by Lee for his handling of the troops under 
his command. Warren said something about it, and 
a hard-faced corporal said to him: ‘^You’ll take it 
green in the stern-sheets if you slack your jaw- 
tackle.” Warren knew little about nautical lan¬ 
guage, but he had sense enough to keep quiet. 
Which was just as well. 

The annual manoeuvres, as conducted by the 
Marine Corps, serve several purposes. First of all, 
they are intended to teach the young Marines the 
actual life of a soldier in the field; tents have to be 
set up, camps made, the galleys brought into action, 
water supply secured, sanitary conditions provided 
for, and all in record time and under strict disci- 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 135 

N 

plinary supervision. And if any one thinks that 
making camp^ in less than half an hour can be done 
without the most rigorous training and efficiency of 
organization, let him try it! 

A second, and most important part of the ma¬ 
noeuvres was to show the essentials of fighting and 
of battle strategy as that art was conceived by two 
as different minds as Ulysses Grant and Robert E. 
Lee. At the same time, the advantages and the 
failures of those strategies were set forth, and com¬ 
pared with the very different battle tactics of to¬ 
day. Experience has shown that it is easier to teach 
strategy in the field by comparing modern methods 
with those of a past generation than it is to teach it 
in the classroom with diagrams on a blackboard. In 
actual practice, a river, a ravine, a forest, or a marsh 
reveals itself as far more important than even the 
most accurate map will show. 

Thirdly, such manoeuvres teach Civil War history, 
and help to build up patriotism in the Marine 
Corps. They also show the people who live in those 
parts the true inwardness of the military movement 
of the Civil War. And, because these struggles 
actually happened, they have a lively interest that 
a mere theoretical sham battle can never have. In 
common with all the other Quantico men, Warren 


136 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

jvas enthusiastic in the following out of the cam¬ 
paign. 

The Battle of the Wilderness, or, to speak of it 
more accurately, the Campaign of the Wilderness 
with its seven different battles, began on May 3, 
1864, and lasted a month. The Marine Corps 
manoeuvres, that year, were of the same duration. 
It was easy, therefore, to repeat on a small scale the 
events of that famous month of fighting, and, be¬ 
cause of the comparatively small number of men 
used by the Marines, it was easy to keep the strategy 
well under view. In the original battles of the Civil 
War, Grant had 120,000 men under his direction; 
Lee had slightly less than 70,000 men. The odds, 
therefore, were nearly two to one, but the Union 
Army was attacking. 

It was the first important campaign of 1864. 
Grant moved forward from his winter headquarters 
with the intention of crossing the Rapidan River, 
traversing the forest on the farther bank of it—the 
forest being known as the “ Wilderness ”—and giv¬ 
ing battle to the Confederate Army on the open 
ground beyond. The Federal troops crossed the 
river without opposition, and the two leading corps 
halted respectively at Wilderness Tavern and at 
Chancellorsville, half-way across the forest. 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 137 

“ You see, Warren,’^ said a friendly sergeant to the 
boy, the second evening of the manoeuvres, around 
the bivouac fire, Grant shouldn’t have stopped 
where he did. The cavalry, scouting ahead of him, 
had reported the road clear.” 

“ Why did he stop, then? ” 

^‘For the chow! ” was the terse answer. “An 
army fights on its stomach. There wasn’t any motor 
transport in those days. Mules had to haul grub 
over muddy roads and over places where there 
weren’t any roads. The wagon train of the Army 
of the Potomac, carrying fifteen days’ supplies for 
over 120,000 men, was an enormous affair. It 
wouldn’t have done to let Lee get in behind and 
cut off communications. That’s the nightmare of a 
C. O. (Commanding Officer); if he doesn’t go ahead, 
he loses the push, if he does go ahead, he’s apt to 
be flanked and cut off in the rear. If Grant had 
had a motor-transport service, as we Marines have 
now, he’d have got across the Wilderness in half 
a day, an’ if he had he’d have pounded Lee into a 
grease-spot, then and there.” 

“ Except that Lee would have had motors, too,” 
put in Warren, eager for the honor of the South, 
“ and he’d have had every road covered.” 

The sergeant, an Ohio man, waved aside the in- 


138 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

terruption and went on with his description of the 
fighting, grufiSy bidding Warren keep his Rebel 
ideas ” to himself. 

The further movement of the Northern Army was 
halted by the appearance of Confederate Infantry 
on the Orange Turnpike, which crossed the Wilder¬ 
ness from east to west. This gave Grant something 
to think about. He decided that Lee must be fall¬ 
ing back, leaving a heavy rear-guard to cover his 
action. With this idea, he tried, at once, to flank 
this rear-guard by a push from the west. But the 
advance troops promptly came in contact with 
Southern skirmishers, and they recoiled, forming up 
m battle line, expecting to be attacked by a large 
force. Lee could have struck, but he held back all 
his troops for he knew that he was outnumbered, 
and one of his Army Corps (Longstreet’s) was more 
than a day’s march from the scene of action. 

And that’s something that couldn’t happen to¬ 
day,” the sergeant pointed out. “ If Grant had had 
a few planes snooping round, the flyers would have 
spotted how thin Lee’s line was to the east. They’d 
have found out, too, that Longstreet was out of the 
running, an’ the Union boys could have waltzed 
through the Wilderness without finding much to 
stop them.” 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 139 

‘‘ That's all right," retorted Warren, “ but if 
planes had been invented in those days, Lee would 
have had some, too. That wagon-train you've been 
talking about would have been peppered with ma¬ 
chine-gun fire from overhead until there was noth¬ 
ing left but mule-meat. You can't make compari¬ 
sons like that! " 

The sergeant chuckled. 

“You're making comparisons, yourself. A good 
thing, too. It shows that you're beginning to get 
the hang of modern ideas. See, without any one 
telling you, the idea came into your head of raking 
a provision train. Ten to one you wouldn't have 
thought of it, if you'd been reading tactics out of a 
book! " 

This was so evidently true that Warren realized 
the value of these manoeuvres. It did give an en¬ 
tirely different idea of things to see the tactics that 
had been used on the very battle-ground, itself. He 
listened all the more intently to the details of the 
campaign. 

The Union General, Warren, was slow in getting 
his division into line, so slow that Grant sent a sharp 
reprimand and even threatened to take away his 
command. Grant had an ugly temper and had fre¬ 
quently been disgraced himself. But his reproofs 


140 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

stung Warren’s pride and he sent his men on, with¬ 
out proper preparation. All that day, therefore, a 
heavy Northern force attacked a small Southern 
force, but without any knowledge of how few men 
were opposed to it. Naturally, Warren was afraid 
of getting out of touch with the rest of the army, 
and yet he did not want Grant to think he was 
avoiding battle. The result was that the Union 
troops, were beaten back with heavy losses, but the 
thin line of Confederates was on the very verge of 
rout when night fell. 

Grant ordered a strong forward advance at five 
o^clock next morning, for his cavalry scouts had 
come in, during the night, with news that Long- 
street’s Corps was still several hours’ march away. 
It was the chance for the Union Army to cripple 
Lee before Longstreet could arrive and then to turn 
on Longstreet. At all hazards, the Federal forces 
must break through the thin line of defence and 
keep the Confederate forces from joining. As an 
attack, it would be costly, but a commander like 
Grant considers his objective of first importance. 

There was a good deal of fog, that morning, and 
Lee set Hill’s division to stop the attackers. The 
Confederates, at that point, were outnumbered 
nearly four to one. The attack was made with an 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 141 

element of surprise and Hill's troops were crippled 
in the first hour's fighting. 

“ That nearly always happens,” commented the 
sergeant, “a surprise attack generally wins. The 
trouble comes after. You can't surprise with a big 
force, and a little force gets itself into danger if 
it goes ahead too far. That's what happened to 
Grant. He broke through Hill's line, but the ground 
was so rough that masses of men couldn't be pushed 
forward, and sniping, from behind trees, costs lives. 
The advance was halted. 

A couple of hours later, Longstreet came up at a 
forced march, having taken his Virginians at a kill¬ 
ing pace through the rough country. He struck 
Grant on the flank, crumpled up the line, and, to 
do the Rebels justice, mighty nearly sent our boys 
back to the tall timber. Just about that time, 
Longstreet was wounded by a bullet, fired by one 
of his own men, which had ricochetted against a 
tree.” 

“ Hard luck! ” exclaimed Warren, and the ser¬ 
geant continued the story. 

After Longstreet's wound, the battle came again 
to a standstill. Grant's early attack had failed to 
cut the Southern Army in two. He entrenched his 
troops, and brought up the wagon-train, intending 


142 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

to hold the turnpike line. Lee, whose characteristic 
it was always to have the last word in any con¬ 
test—for he knew the fighting value of prestige—at¬ 
tacked suddenly at two points, just as it was getting 
dusk. He swept over and through Hancock’s en¬ 
trenchments and fell with absolute suddenness on 
the Union right, capturing two generals and several 
hundred soldiers. The night came down with the 
Union Army almost in a panic. It would have been 
a rout, but for the iron hand of Grant, who never 
accepted a defeat, but hung on savagely, and made 
his troops hang on, too.” 

“Seems to me,” put in Warren, who had been 
following the battle closely, “ that Lee was handling 
the better strategy of the two.” 

“No one ever denied that Lee was a first-class 
man,” admitted the sergeant grudgingly; “ there’s 
folks who put him in the same class with Napoleon. 
But you’ve got to remember that the Southern gen¬ 
erals were always willing to follow Lee’s orders, 
while Grant had to fight against all sorts of discon¬ 
tents on his own staff. You see, Lee had been the 
Commander-in-chief from the start; Grant hadn’t. 
Besides, he’d been forced to leave the Army, once, 
an’ twice, durin’ the early part o’ the Civil War, he 
was relieved from command.” 



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Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 

Marines as a guard of honor. 

Apart from their military duties, Marines frequently form guards of .honor at national or 
international expositions. Above is shown a detachment of Marines with their commander, 

serving at the Universal Exposition, Paris, 1889. 









































AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 143 

Instead of permitting a retreat, Grant delib¬ 
erately shifted his army sidewise in the direction of 
Spottsylvania. The next day’s fighting consisted of 
a series of melees, in which neither side knew what 
the other was doing. All was confusion at Union 
General Headquarters, but Grant bullied his staff 
into obedience and held firm to his plans. He pos¬ 
sessed two of the principal factors of great general¬ 
ship—an ability to distinguish between essential and 
minor aims, and a ruthless determination to make 
everything subservient to one single purpose. Little 
by little, the advantage of numbers began to tell in 
favor of Grant, in spite of the amazing strategic 
ability shown by Lee, who, with a single Division, 
kept two Army Corps in such confusion as to the 
whereabouts of the enemy that it did not dare ad¬ 
vance. The Confederates had the best of the fight¬ 
ing, all along the line, but, by reason of the strength 
of his reserves. Grant was able to manoeuvre into a 
better position. It was on the morning of the 11th 
that he sent his famous message to Washington: 

“ I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes 
all summer! ” 

“ That wasn’t so much to say, since the North¬ 
erners were two to one! ” grumbled Warren. 

“ You Southern birds are all the same,” retorted 


144 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

the sergeant; one would think it was you who won 
the Civil War! Get it fixed in that ivory nut of 
yours that it was the Rebels who had to surrender 
in the end! 

Warren bit his tongue to keep from answering, 
and let his informant go on with his story. 

The next day’s fighting was one of the fiercest 
in the whole Civil War. The Union troops, under 
Hancock, carried the Confederate entrenchments 
known as The Salient.” It was a gallant attack 
and brilliantly carried out. But the troops were so 
disorganized by success, and so sure that they had 
won the key of the position, that they neglected to 
solidify their holdings. Grant’s generals were mu¬ 
tinous, as well. The Salient ” was retaken, and 
again lost. All day and most of the night the fight¬ 
ing continued. Always individual Union forces 
were beaten back in the hand-to-hand melee, but 
always Grant improved his position, flanking and 
beginning to encircle the Army of Northern Vir¬ 
ginia. At the end of a fortnight’s fighting, each 
army had suffered casualties of a third of its men. 
Grant had not been able to annihilate Lee, as he 
had hoped, but he had already rendered impossible 
a Southern advance. 

“ Attrition ” was the word ever on Grant’s lips. 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 145 

The North had more men than the South. If losses 
remained proportionately equal, the Confederates 
were doomed. Grant’s generals wanted to gain the 
campaign; Grant intended to win the war. 

“ What would have happened if both armies had 
possessed modern artillery, Sergeant?” asked War¬ 
ren. 

The non-commissioned ofi&cer shrugged his shoul¬ 
ders. 

“ Guns change everything,” said he. If the 
Union Army could have laid down a barrage, like we 
do, now, they could have waltzed through the 
Wilderness and never lost a man. If the Confed¬ 
erates had owned a few of those 75’s you were learn¬ 
ing to handle the other day and had stuck a few 
machine-gun nests along the Orange Turnpike, I 
guess Grant would be fighting there yet. 

‘‘ But what you want to get into your head. Boy, 
is that while modern equipment will change the way 
of fighting, it doesn’t change the way of handling 
men. Artillery doesn’t do anything of itself, it’s 
only a way of making it easier for advancin’ troops. 
All the guns in the world don’t alter the fact that 
positions are taken and held by Infantry. The rifle 
and the bayonet are fundamental. What’s the use 
of shelling a point, if, after it’s shelled, there’s no 


146 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

one to hold it? The Marines donT stay a mile or 
two away; they get right into the game, and they 
stay there until it's over! " 

The next week, in the famous Campaign of the 
Wilderness, was one of manoeuvring for position. 
This was a campaign of strategy, with the two best 
generals of both sides playing Army Corps against 
each other like men in a game of checkers. The 
fighting switched into the Cold Harbor region, and 
Grant, true to his character, again was for “ ham¬ 
mering." His subordinate general refused, and the 
men were about ready to mutiny. 

‘‘Why, Sergeant? " ' 

^‘Not enough trained," came the terse reply. 
“ Troops aren't much use until they advance an' 
fight without thinking. That's where Regulars come 
in. That's where the Marines cut a wide swath 
when they begin. You must bear in mind that, 
among the Marines who went to France, there were 
mighty few greenhorns. We were the Leathernecks, 
the old-timers, at the Bois de Belleau. Now, Grant's 
men had all the pluck you could ask for, and they 
fought well; but they didn't understand being 
handled. They wanted to handle themselves. The 
worst soldier isn't the one who's afraid, it's the man 
who thinks he knows more than his corporal or his 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 147 

lieutenant. Tie a reef-knot in that idea and keep 
it! 

In this ducking back and forward, near Cold 
Harbor, Lee managed to establish a strong position, 
although he was so ill, himself, that he was scarcely 
able to direct the movement of his troops. By in¬ 
dependent commands, here and there, the Union 
troops attacked. For the first time in the Wilder¬ 
ness campaign, they won small gains at every point, 
and were able to hold what they won. Grant then 
ordered skirmishing raids, and these showed that 
Lee's line was immensely long. From spies and 
from prisoners, Grant had learned that the army op¬ 
posing him did not number more than 45,000 men, 
and the length of the line proved that it could not 
be strong at any one point. 

In flat defiance of all his supporting generals. 
Grant ordered a “ hammering ” battle. He threw 
all his divisions forward against the Southern en¬ 
trenchments. Cold Harbor was open country, and 
Grant was always reckless of men. The attack of 
the Federals failed utterly. Not a single point did 
they get into the Confederate trenches. Six thou¬ 
sand men fell in less than an hour's fighting. 

Sounds like a fool move," commented Warren. 

• ‘ It was," the sergeant admitted. But Grant 


148 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

had to attack, and since the artillery was far in¬ 
ferior to infantry at that time, his lines had to 
cross a fire-swept zone of a thousand yards, at least, 
and the Rebels knew how to shoot. But this time, 
sure, he played his hand badly. I guess it was the 
worst punishment the North ever got, worse than 
Fredericksburg, even. 

This Wilderness campaign is a good one for 
learning, Boy. Because of the rough country, there 
werenT many sweeping moves; mostly small cam¬ 
paigns against field fortifications. Modern trenches 
are the same thing, only, with the increase in the 
powers of modem artillery, log block-houses and 
the like would be useless. If you take away all 
modern equipment, there’s more than a little 
similarity between the fighting in the Campaign of 
the Wilderness, in 1864 , and the fighting in the Bois 
de Belleau in 1918 .” 

Then Lee won the Wilderness Campaign? ” 
queried Warren. 

“ He won the fighting and lost the campaign,” the 
sergeant answered. More than forty per cent, of 
both armies were killed or wounded, during that 
month, but Grant got recruits enough to make him 
stronger than ever, in six weeks’ time. On the other 
hand, Lee could get no more men; the South had 


AMONG THE LEATHERNECKS 149 

rendered its full complement. The Confederates 
had shot their bolt.” 

During that month of manoeuvres, the Marines 
marched, bivouacked, scouted, attacked in sham bat¬ 
tles, and, day by day, they learned the handling of 
themselves both in guerrilla tactics and in mass 
groups. Their officers,—a good many of whom had 
served in the World War, or who had learned the 
lessons which that War taught—instructed the men 
by showing the difference between warfare in the 
trenches of the Wilderness and the trenches along 
the 1918 battle-front. 

When they got back to Quantico, Warren found 
himself tenfold more eager to learn about the 
handling of arms, of artillery, of engineer tactics, 
of naval warfare, of everything, indeed, which goes 
to make up the training and education of a Marine. 
Moreover, he pestered the life out of every one who 
had been overseas, until he got as proud of the 
record of Marines in the World War as if he had 
been there, himself."^ One evening, he cornered a 
sergeant—who had been wounded, himself, in the 
Bois de Belleau charge—and practically forced him 
to tell his story. 



CHAPTER VIII 


SURROUNDED BY DEATH 

Talkin’ ain’t much in my line,” declared the 
sergeant, an’ you’d do a durn sight better to get 
hold o’ some o’ these writin’ chaps that can make 
a sort o’ glory out o’ war. Me, I don’t see it that 
way. It’s dooty, an’ has to be done—an’ will have 
to be done so long as men are men an’ not angels 
without wings—but it’s only the blamed fool or the 
blank ignorant that calls war an easy thing. 

“But when a Marine is told to go forward, he 
goes; when he’s ordered ‘over the top,’ he doesn’t 
hang around to think about it; an’ if anybody gets 
in his way, well, so much the worse for them. So 
far as the World War is concerned, I’m doin’ all the 
forgettin’ I can, but things like Belleau Wood and 
the Charge on Soissons is part of any young Marine’s 
eddication.” 

“ Tell me, Sergeant! ” urged Warren. 

“ Ain’t I doin’ it? But since you don’t know the 
whole history o’ the War, an’ I don’t—^who does?— 

I’ll give you a notion o’ how things were when the 

150 



SURROUNDED BY DEATH 151 

Leathernecks got into the scrap. I ain’t got nothin’ 
to say about nobody but the Marines, but, to my 
way o’ thinkin’, I never saw nothin’ slower than the 
way the United States started in to that War. 

We didn’t get in, at the beginning, in 1914, nor 
yet in 1915, nor yet in 1916. Congress declared a 
^ state of war ’ with Germany on April 6, 1917. 
There weren’t any volunteers to speak of, an’ it took 
us six weeks to find that out. The draft got goin’ 
in June. The first American units appeared on the 
front on January 31, 1918, in a quiet sector. Two 
days after, General Pershing sent a swift mes¬ 
sage back sayin’ that neither the American officers 
nor the men were efficient. ‘ There is,’ he said, ^ an 
almost total failure to give instructions in principles 
of minor tactics and their practical application to 
war conditions. Officers, from colonels down, are 
found ignorant of the handling of units in open war¬ 
fare. No training whatever has been given in 
musketry efficiency.’ ” 

“ My word! It was as bad as all that? ” 

There were no Marines in that bunch. The first 
time we got into the scrappin’, the generals talked 
a bit different. But then, Marines are trained. It 
was mighty near a year after the first Declaration 
of War by the United States that any separately 


152 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

organized American force did any fightin\ As for 
airplanes an’ guns, most of ours reached France after 
the War was over. (Only 234 American aeroplanes 
reached the front and less than three per cent, of 
American aviation was done on American machines; 
American troops used 2,250 pieces of artillery, but 
only 104 were made in America ; there were not even 
enough American rifles to go round; over a hundred 
million dollars was spent on building powder plants, 
but not a keg of powder reached the front until 
three weeks before the end of the war).” 

“ But why-” began Warren. 

** None o’ my business—or yours! I’m just givin’ 
you an idea so’s to show why the work o’ the 
Marines was so important. It wasn’t big, but it 
counted. O’ course, that’s natural. The reason is 
that we know how. 

Now, by the winter of 1917-1918, it was clear to 
the Germans that while the United States was dead 
slow in getting started, things would begin to hum, 
after a while. It was a cinch that, by the spring of 
1918, American troops would appear in France. By 
the middle o’ the summer they’d be pourin’ in. By 
the fall, there’d be enough American fightin’ men 
in Europe to curl up the Kaiser like a dry potato 
peel. 



SURROUNDED BY DEATH 153 

There was only one chance for the Central 
Powers. They’d have to drive to success one final 
an’ tremendous offensive before we chaps got into 
the game. After that, it meant ' Good-night, 
Heinie! ’ Emperor Bill figured that America hadn’t 
wanted to fight, that she’d waited to enter the war 
until she saw what side was winnin’. If he could 
pull off one big success, so he figured, the U. S. 
would find some diplomatic way of backin’ out,~so’s 
not to get into a losin’ game. But he overlooked a 
bet. The Leathernecks were on the move. We were 
actually on the front when the Boche started his 
last big push; the Fourth Brigade of Marines was 
in the front-line trenches at Verdun. 

‘Ht was in February, 1918, that the American 
troops really began cornin’. Most of ’em were a 
green lot. As Pershing said himself, it would have 
been murder to send ’em to the front, an’ they’d only 
have been points o’ danger. But, at least, they were 
in France, an’ veteran French instructors began to 
whip ’em into line. It took six months, an’ a big 
proportion never saw the front at all. But every 
week they got better, an’ every week more ’n’ more 
transports came in, each one makin’ the Kaiser a 
bit more green about the gills. America, which had 
only been a paper menace, now began to show up 


154 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

as a grim reality. But the Germans still doubted 
whether the Americans would be any good as 
fighters. Somebody had to open the Boche’s eyes. 
We Marines opened ’em, an’ we opened ’em wide. 
The Bois de Belleau was a small affair, if you like, 
but it rocked the Kaiser in his saddle. It taught 
him that the four million men, trainin’ in America 
an’ French camps, were four million fighters. He 
didn’t sleep any too easy after that. 

“ The Big Push o’ the German High Command 
was one husky scheme. The Germans planned to 
cut through the battle-line o’ the Allies at two 
points an’ to split the line in three. By the northern 
gap they figured on reachin’ the English Channel, 
on seizin’ all ports so as to keep any more British 
troops from landin’, an’ then on surroundin’ an’ 
gobblin’ up the Northern an’ Belgian armies. By 
the Southern gap, the Marne was to be. crossed, 
Rheims isolated, Paris taken in the rear, the Cham¬ 
pagne armies cut off from communication and 
forced to surrender. A very pretty plan, but it 
didn’t work. 

“ The Push began on March 21, 1918. It lasted 
eight days. In that time, the Germans secured 
nearly a thousand square miles o’ territory, an’ fifty 
miles o’ first-line trenches. It cost ’em a couple o’ 



Many and varied have been the uniforms worn by U. S. Marines since the Corps was organized on 
November 10, 1775. The above group show Marine Corps officers wearing the dress uniform 
of the period just prior to the Civil War. From left to right: a Colonel Commandant, 

a Major, Captain, and First Lieutenant. 






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SURROUNDED BY DEATH 155 

hundred thousand men, but it was a fine bit o’ 
work. As a Push, it was a dud. The Boches didn’t 
get to the Channel, they didn’t take Amiens, an’ 
they didn’t cut the Allied line. Kaiser Bill’s idea 
to control the English Channel was put back in its 
cradle an’ softly rocked to sleep. 

‘‘ The day after the Push was over, Pershing asked 
Foch if the Americans couldn’t be put into the 
fightin’ line. It was time! The Allies had only 
just been able to keep the Germans from breakin’ 
through. April saw a new Push on Ypres. The 
fightin’ o’ the Allies around there, French, Canadian, 
and Anzacs, was a holy terror. They couldn’t ha’ 
done better if they was Marines! The Boche was 
fightin’, too. 

After that, there was a month’s preparation. 
Every one knew that the Southern Push would be 
the biggest of all. It would have to be if Kaiser 
Bill wanted to review his goose-steppers in the 
streets 0 ’ Paris. The Americans were cornin’ over 
faster an’ faster. Foch rightly reckoned that the 
Push would hit in the direction 0 ’ Compiegne an’ 
Paris. There was a preliminary thrust at the Oise. 
The U. S. Second Division, with the Marines along, 
spoiled the Boche’s little game, right then an’ there. 
The real importance of it was to give the Germans 


156 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

a taste of American fight in’ quality. They didn’t 
seem to like the flavor.” 

‘‘Was all the Second Division made up of Ma¬ 
rines? ” queried Warren. 

“What an idea! You’ve got to learn something 
about Army ways, Boy. The Second Division was 
made up of a Brigade 0 ’ Marines, includin’ the Fifth 
an’ Sixth Regiments an’ the Sixth Machine-Gun 
Battalion o’ Marines; the Third Infantry Brigade, 
Army boys, with the Ninth an’ Twenty-third Regi¬ 
ments and the Fourth an’ Fifth Machine-Gun Bat¬ 
talions; the Second Field Artillery Brigade, with the 
Twelfth, Fifteenth and Seventeenth Field Artillery 
and the Second Trench Mortar Battery; the Second 
Engineers, and Engineer Train; Ammunition Train; 
the First Field Signal Battalion; the Second Supply 
Train, an’ the Second Sanitary Train. The stretcher- 
bearers had more work ’n the cooks, in that division! 

“ But, the way things happened to break, it was 
the Marine Brigade which had most 0 ’ the fightin’ 
around the famous Hill 142, Bouresches and the 
Bois de Belleau. It isn’t called that any more. It’s 
officially known, now, as ‘ The Wood of the Marine 
Brigade.’ That’s us! 

“ How did we take it? Ask me somethin’ easy! 
Here! Have you seen that he-book o’ Cap’n 


SURROUNDED BY DEATH 157 

Thomason’s? ‘ Fetch it down from the shelf there. 
He’s got the dope straight, an’ he can talk; I can’t. 
This is what he says: 

“ ‘ On May 27, forty-odd divisions, a tidal wave of 
fightin’ Germans, with the greatest artillery con¬ 
centration the Boche ever effected, swept upon seven 
or eight divisions of territorials and Algerians be¬ 
tween Soissons and Rheims. They had come back, 
fightin’ thirty-five miles in three days, and the 
Boche, though slowed up, was still advancin’. They 
were holdin’ him along the Marne, and at Chateau- 
Thierry a machine-gun battalion of the American 
Third Division was pilin’ up his dead in heaps 
around the bridge-heads, but to the northwest he 
was still cornin’. And to the northwest the Second 
Division was gatherin’: first the Fourth Brigade of 
Marines, with some guns, and then the regular in¬ 
fantrymen of the Ninth and Twenty-third. Al¬ 
ready, around Hautevesnes, there had been a brush 
with advancin’ Germans, and the Germans were 
given a new experience: rifle-fire that begins to kill 
at 800 yards; they found it very interestin’.’ ” 

The sergeant broke off for a moment. 

“ Next time you go out for rifle practice. Boy, you 
keep on rememberin’ that the Marines hold the 
world’s record for marksmanship. A rifle ain’t for 
decoration, it’s for use! ” 

He read on: 

^*‘Fix Bayonets! ** by Captain John W. Thomason, Jr,, U. S. 
Marine Corps (Scribner’s). Every American boy should read this 
book, every boy. It is gripping, true, and superbly written. 


158 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

' Some time during the night, Brigade Head¬ 
quarters sent battle order to the First Battalion of 
the Fifth Marines, and at dawn they were in a 
wood near Champillon. . . . The platoons came 

out of the woods as the dawn was getting grey. 
The light was strong when they advanced into the 
open wheat, now all starred with dewy poppies, red 
as blood. To the east the sun appeared, immensely 
red and round, a handbreadth above the horizon; 
a German shell burst black across the face of it, 
just to the left of the line. Men turned their heads 
to see, and many there looked no more upon the 
sun, forever. . . . 

^ One old non-com—was it Jerry Finnegan of 
the Forty-ninth?—had a can of salmon, hoarded 
somehow against hard times. He haggled it open 
with his bayonet, eating chunks of goldfish from the 
point of that wicked knife. 

« < « Finnegan,'' his platoon commander, a young 
gentleman inclined to peevishness before he’d had 
his morning coffee, was annoyed, when you are 
quite through with your refreshments, you can—er 
—fix that bayonet and get on with the war! " ^ 
i gij.j ” Finnegan was an old Haitian 

soldier, and had a breezy manner with very young 
lieutenants. '' Th' lootenant want some? " 

‘ Two hours later Sergeant Jerry Finneg^ lay 
dead across a Maxim gun with his bayonet in the 
body of the gunner. . . . 

' Across this wheat-field there were more woods, 
and in the edge of these woods the old Boche, lots 
of him, infantry and machine-guns. Surely he had 
seen the platoons forming a few hundred^ yards 
away—it is possible that he did not believe his eyes. 
He let them come close before he opened fire. 


SURROUNDED BY DEATH 159 

‘ The American fighting man has his failings. 
He is prone to many regrettable errors. But the 
sagacious enemy will never let him get close enough 
to see whom he is attacking. When he has seen the 
enemy, the American regular will come on in. To 
stop him, you must kill him. And when he is properly 
trained, and has some one to say Come on! to 
him, he will stand as much killing as anybody on 
earth. 

“ ‘ The platoons, assailed now by a fury of small- 
arms fire, narrowed their eyes and inclined their 
bodies forward, like men in heavy rain, and went 
on. . . . Officers yelled; 

^ “ Battle-sight! Fire at will! ” 

^ A very respectable body of fire came from the 
advancing platoons, and the lines, much thinned, 
got into the woods. Some grenades went off; there 
was a screaming and a tumult, and the taka-taka- 
taka-taka ” of the Maxim guns died down. . . . The 
attack went on, platoons much smaller, sergeants 
and corporals commanding many of them. . . . 

The place was stiff with Boche troops, and he was 
in good quality, as Marine casualty lists were pres¬ 
ently to show. . . . More wheat, and rnore 

woods, and savage fighting among individuals in a 
brushy ravine. . . . Then wheat again. . . . 

The slope blazed with machine-guns and rifles; the 
air was populous with wicked keening noises. Most 
of the front waves went down; all hands, very 
sensibly, threw themselves prone: 

Can’t walk up to these babies-!” 

“ ‘ Men crawled forward; the wheat was agitated, 
and the Boche, directing his fire by observers in tree- 
tops, / browned the slope industriously. Men were 
wounded, wounded again as the lines of fire swept 



i6o WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

back and forth, and finally killed. It helped some 
to bag the jeldwehels in the trees; there were men 
in that line who could hit at 750 yards, three times 
out of five. Sweating, hot, and angry with a bleak 
cold anger, the Marines worked forward. They were 
there, and the Germans were there, and there was 
nothing else in the clanging world. 

‘ An officer, risking his head above the wheat, 
observed progress, and detached a corporal with his 
squad to get forward by the flank. 

^ Get far enough past that flank gun, now, close 
as you can, and rush it—^we’ll keep it busy! 

“ ‘ Nothing sounds so mad as rifle-fire, staccato, 
furious- 

“' The corporal judged that he was far enough, 
and raised with a yell, his squad leaping with him. 
He was not past the flank; two guns swung that way, 
and cut the squad down as a grass-hook levels a 
clump of weeds. . . . They lay there for days, 
eight Marines in a dozen yards, face down on their 
rifles. But they had done their job. 

‘ The men in the wheat were close enough to 
use the split-second interval in firing. They got in, 
stabbing. 

'' ‘ Meanwhile, to the left, a little group of men lay 
in the wheat under the very muzzle of a gun that 
clipped the stalks around their ears and riddled their 
combat backs—firing high by a matter of inches. 
A man can stand just so much of that. ^ Life pres¬ 
ently ceases to be desirable; the only desirable thing 
is to kill that gunner, kill him with your hands! ^ 

‘ They got him! One fellow seized the spitting 
muzzle and up-ended it on the gunner; he lost a 
hand in the matter. Bayonets flashed in, and a 
rifle-butt rose and fell. The battle tore through the 



SURROUNDED BY DEATH i6i 


coppice. The machine-gunners were brave men, 
and many of the Prussian infantry were brave men, 
and they died. Hunters and hunted burst in a 
frantic medley on the open at the crest of the hill. 
Impartial machine-guns took toll of both. . . . 
In the valley below were more Germans, and on the 
next hill. Most of the officers were down, and all 
hands went on. Some Marines branched off down 
a road and went into the town of Torcy. . . . 
They never came out again. 

‘ Later in the day, the lieutenant was back on 
the pine-crested hill, now identified as Hill 142. Cap¬ 
tain Hamilton was there, one or two officers, and a 
handful of the Forty-ninth and Sixty-seventh Com¬ 
panies; a semblance of a line was organized. There 
was a Hotchkiss gun and some Boche Maxims were 
put in position. . . . 

« ((('^effl just stay here-” 

‘ The Boche indulged himself in violent shell¬ 
ing and raked the hill savagely with all the machine- 
guns in the world. From the direction of Torcy, a 
counter-attack developed. 

'' ‘ A file of sweating soldiers, burdened with picks 
and shovels in addition to bandoleers and combat 
gear, came trotting from the right. 

‘‘ ‘ “ Just flop right here,'’ said the Marine officer 
to the young second lieutenant of Engineers, ‘‘ we'll 
hold this line. Orders are to dig in here, but that 
can wait—see yonder? " 

‘ These Engineers, their* packs went one way and 
their tools another, and they cast themselves down 


happily. 

'''Say, if ever I get a drink," says the Marme, 
a Second Engineer can have half of it. Boy, they 
dig trenches and mend roads all night and fight all 



i 62 with the u. s. marines 

day! . . . They^s no better folks anywhere than 

the Engineers/' 

‘ The Boche wanted Hill 142; he came and the 
rifles broke him; he came again. All his batteries 
were in action, and always his machine-guns 
scourged the place, but he could not make head 
against the rifles. Guns he could understand; he 
knew all about bombs and auto-rifles and machine- 
guns and trench-mortars, but aimed, sustained rifle- 
fire, that comes from nowhere in particular and 
picks off men—it brought the war home to the in¬ 
dividual and demoralized him. 

“ ‘ And trained Americans fight best with rifles. 
Men get tired of carrying grenades and chaut-chaut 
clips; the guns cannot, even under most favorable 
conditions, keep pace with advancing infantry. 
Machine-gun crews have a way of getting killed at 
the start; trench-mortars and one-pounders are not 
always possible. But the rifle and the bayonet go 
anywhere a man can go, and the rifle and bayonet 
win battles. Towards midday, this 6th of June, 
1918, the condition around Hill 142 stabilized.^ A 
small action, fought by battalions over a limited 
area of no special importance, it gave the Boche 
something new to think about, and it may be that 
people who write histories will date an era from 
it.... 

‘‘ ‘ Late in the afternoon, a great uproar arose to 
the right. There was more artillery up now, more 
machine-guns, more of everything. The Third Bat¬ 
talion of the Sixth Marines and the Third Battalion 
of the Fifth attacked the town called Bouresches 
and the wood known as Bois de Belleau. They at¬ 
tacked across the open, losing hideously. Platoons 
were shot down entire. The colonel commanding 


SURROUNDED BY DEATH 163 

the Sixth, farther forward than regimental officers 
have any business being, was shot. Lieutenant Rob¬ 
inson got into Bouresches, with twenty men out of 
some hundred who started, threw the Boche out and 
held it. They gained a footing in the rocky ledges 
at the edge of the Bois de Belleau, suffering much 
from what was believed to be a machine-gun nest 
at this point. The whole wood was a machine-gun 
nest. 

“ ‘ Night descended over a tortured area of wheat 
and woodland, lit by flares and gun-flashes, flailed 
by machine-guns. . . . Stretcher-bearers and 

combat patrols roamed over it in the dark. Water 
parties and ration parties groped back from for¬ 
ward positions over unknown trails. . . . 

‘ Back at Brigade Headquarters, officers bent 
over maps and framed orders for a stronger attack 
on the Bois de Belleau at dawn, writing also to 
Division Headquarters: 

“ '. . . casualties severe .... figures on 

which to base call for replacements will be sub¬ 
mitted as soon as possible. . . .’^ 

^ They tried new tactics to get the bayonets into 
the Bois de Belleau. Platoons—very lean platoons, 
now—formed in small combat groups, deployed in 
the wheat and set out towards the gloomy wood. 
Fifty batteries were working on it, all the field pieces 
of the Second Division, and what the French would 
lend. The shell ripped overhead, and the wood was 
full of leaping flame, and the smoke of High Ex¬ 
plosive and shrapnel. The fire from its edge died 
down. 

“ ' It was late in the afternoon; the sun was low 
enough to shine under the edge of your helmet. 
The men went forward at a walk, their shoulders 


i64 with the U. S. MARINES 

hunched over, their bodies inclined, their eyes on 
the edge of the wood, where shrapnel was raising a 
fog of dust. Some of them had been this way be¬ 
fore; their faces were set bleakly. Others were re¬ 
placements, a month or so from Quantico; they were 
terribly anxious to do the right thing, and they 
watched zealously the sergeants and the corporals 
and the lieutenants who led the way with canes. 

‘ One such group, over to the left, followed a big, 
young ofl&cer, a replacement, too, but a man who 
had spent a week in Bouresches and was to be con¬ 
sidered a veteran, as such things went in those days, 
when so many chaps were not with the brigade very 
long. As he advanced he thought of the great bat¬ 
tles, the glamorous attacks of old-time warfare, full 
of the color and the high-hearted elan of chiv¬ 
alry. . . . 

“' No music here, no flags, no bright swords, no 
lines of battle charging with a yell. Combat groups 
of weary men, in drab and dirty uniforms, dressed 
approximately on a line, spaced so that one shrap¬ 
nel-burst cannot include more than one group,’’ 
laden like mules with gas-masks, bandoleers, gre¬ 
nades, chaut-chaut clips, trudging forward without 
haste and without excitement, they moved on an 
untidy wood where shells were breaking, a wood that 
did not answer back, nor show an enemy. In its 
silence and anonymity it was sinister. . . . 

‘ The air snapped and crackled all around. The 
sergeant beside the lieutenant stopped, looked at 
him with a frozen foolish smile, and crumpled into 
a heap of old clothes. Something took the knee¬ 
cap off the lieutenant’s right knee, and his leg 
buckled under him. He noticed, as he fell sideways, 
that all his men were tumbling over like duck-pins. 


SURROUNDED BY DEATH 165 

Then the wheat shut him in. . . . He himself 

was hit, again and again, and he lay very still. . . . 

“ ‘ Later ... he tried to wriggle backward 
into a shell-hole that he remembered passing. He 
was hit again, but somehow he got into a little shell- 
hole, or got his body into it, head first. He reflected 
that he had bled so much that a head-downward 
position wouldn’t matter, and he didn’t want to be 
hit again. Men all dead, he supposed. He seemed 
to pass out, and to have dreamy periods of uncon¬ 
sciousness. . . . 

^ The men were not all dead. They had gone 
on, been beaten off, and gone on again. Good Ger¬ 
man troops, with every device of engineering skill, 
and all their cunning gained in war, poured into 
the wood. Battalions of Marines threw themselves 
against it. Day and night for nearly a month, men 
fought in its corpse-choked thickets, killing with 
bayonet and bomb and machine-gun. It was gassed 
and shelled and shot into the semblance of nothing 
earthly. The great trees were all down; the leaves 
were blasted oft", or hung sere and blackened. It 
was pockmarked with shell craters, and shallow dug- 
outs, and hasty trenches. Finally, it was taken by 
inches . . . taken by Marines mainly, but they 

left 1,062 Marines dead in the sector, and 3,615 were 
wounded. 

' Later, much later, the young lieutenant who 
had been several times wounded in that first attack 
on the Bois de Belleau, asked a nurse by his bed: 

I say. Nurse, tell me—did we get the Bois de 

Belleau? ” 

“ ''' Why, last June! ” she said. '' It’s time you 
were coming out of it! This is August. . . ” 



i66 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

There are many other stories to tell of the Ma¬ 
rines, especially of the March to Soissons and the 
fighting at Blanc Mont, but there is one gem that 
no Marine will forget. It may be told in Thoma¬ 
son’s words: 

‘ Four infantry regiments were thrust saw-wise 
northwest to northeast of Blanc Mont; all were 
isolated from each other and from the French, who 
had lagged behind the flanks. Four little islands 
in a turbulent Boche sea, and the old Boche doing 
his worst. The Marine Major-General commanding, 
Lejeune, as it is related, went serenely to sleep. And 
they relate further that a staff colonel came to rouse 
him with a tale of disaster: 

“ ^ General, General, I have word from the front 
that a regiment of Marines is entirely surrounded 
by the Germans! ” 

uf^Yes, Colonel? Well, sir,” said the General, 
sadly and sleepily, “ I am sorry for those Germans! ” 
and he returned to his slumbers.’ ” 

s 

Over those words, the Leathernecks chuckle still. 



Courtesy of U. S' Marine Corps. 


The first military action of the Marines. 


U. S. Marines, under the command of Captain Samuel Nicholas, 
landed at New Providence in the Bahamas in 1776, for 
their first military action. The above is reproduced 
from a group of historical paintings by John 
Joseph Capolino, of Philadelphia. 

























































































CHAPTER IX 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 

The valor shown by the U. S. Marines in the 
World War, their splendid record as administrators 
in Haiti, in Nicaragua, and in the Dominican Re¬ 
public, their intrepidity at Vera Cruz, their prompt 
efficiency as the saviors of order in moments of re¬ 
volt and danger all over the world, in short, all their 
competent and heroic work on land must not be 
allowed to obscure the fact that primarily, the Ma¬ 
rines are the “ soldiers of the sea,” and, as such, are 
under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department. 

In consequence, the tactical work of the Marines 
must be regarded as being directed from on board 
ship, however independently a unit may operate as 
a landing force. As Major-General Lejeune of the 
Marine Corps expressed it, the tactical missions of 
Marines are: 

“ First, to help fight the ship; second to capture 
and hold the land approaches of a harbor when it 
is necessary for the fleet to put into port in some 

strange country; and, third, to enable the fleet to 

167 


i68 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 


strike a blow on land by means of a raiding party, 
or a small, compact offensive force.” 

In view of the important place which the U. S. 
Marines have come to hold as part of the armed 
forces of the United States, and in view of the way 
in which the Marine Corps has endeared itself to 
the American people, it is of some interest to trace 
the development of this force, which is neither 
purely military nor naval, but which partakes of the 
character of both. 

When the soldiers of the sea first appeared in 
history, not only did they help fight the ship, but 
they were the only fighters on board. In early 
Egyptian and Phoenician galleys, the crew was di¬ 
vided into three entirely different classes. In the 
first place, there were the rowers, or galley slaves, 
most of whom were prisoners of war, or criminals, 
who were chained to their oars and not allowed any 
arms, for fear of mutiny; if the galley sank, the 
slaves sank with it, still chained to the rowing- 
benches. The second class consisted of the navi¬ 
gators and sailors, who steered the ship, attended to 
the sails, men who were not expected to fight, save 
in case of necessity; they were freedmen, and be¬ 
longed to an honorable guild. The third group, 
ranking far higher than the second, consisted of 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 169 

fighting men, in every sense of the word, drawn from 
the best families, who formed either the boarding 
parties, or the defenders of the galley. The Ancient 
Greeks adopted the same system, as did the Romans, 
in contrast with the Viking system of the North, 
where every man was free, and every man took his 
turn at the oars, or with the sails, his arms ready 
to his hand. 

The period of oar-driven galleys lasted well into 
the Middle Ages, and it was only in the time of 
Prince Henry the Navigator, of Portugal, when 
Portugal and Spain began to loom large upon the 
world’s maritime affairs, and when the Atlantic 
Ocean was no longer a closed sea, that the whole 
character of ships and of ship-fighting began to 
change. Between the galley and the galleon, the 
difference is enormous. 

At almost the same period, there came a great 
change in naval equipment. Gunpower and the use 
of firearms supplemented and finally supplanted the 
stones thrown by mechanical catapults. Naval war¬ 
fare began to assume the form of an artillery duel, 
to begin with, ending only at the last stages with 
hand-to-hand battles between the crews of ships 
locked together by grapnels. This movement has 
reached a point, nowadays, when whole fleets may 


170 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

be engaged and a great naval decision reached while 
the respective capital ships remain several miles 
from each other, mere specks on the sea. The Ma¬ 
rines no longer form boarding parties, or repel 
boarders, since that form of warfare is no longer in 
use. But it would be their duty so to act, if some 
such conditions should arise. 

With the change in naval tactics came a decided 
change in the work of the Marines. They were not 
the only members of a ship’s company delegated to 
fight. The Bluejackets were every bit as keen 
fighters. Sailormen manned the guns of the ship’s 
batteries in naval engagements, while the Marines 
furnished the musketeers and the sharpshooters. 
Even so, it remained their privilege to be the first 
in boarding parties, to be the '' shock troops ” of the 
sea. 

As ships increased in cruising range, crossing the 
oceans without heed, and as guns increased in fir¬ 
ing range, the land functions of the Marines as¬ 
sumed greater importance. Ships which had trav¬ 
ersed thousands of miles of ocean to a foreign 
shore, especially the wooden vessels (without copper 
bottoms) stood in direct need of being able to seize 
and hold a safe harbor, somewhere, where they 
could careen, scrape the ship’s bottom from bar- 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 171 

nacles and weeds, and refit generally. The sailors 
would be busy at the ship^s work; their shield and 
bulwark of defence was the Marines. Moreover, 
where there is defence, there is also attack; it grew 
to be of importance to be able to attack and de¬ 
stroy enemy bases. Thus the necessity of a land 
force accompanying a fleet established itself in naval 
warfare, and this necessity becomes more and more 
marked as naval warfare took on colossal propor¬ 
tions. So much has this become true that, to-day, 
the Marines are no longer regarded as a mere 
appendage to the Navy, but as a Third Arm of 
Service. 

When the War of Independence broke out, navies 
on a small basis were organized by several of the 
Colonies, and Marines had their posts on board 
these vessels. Colonel Glover, of Marblehead, led 
a regiment of fighting seamen, who fought as much 
on sea as on land and who were known as “ Glover’s 
Amphibious Regiment.” After the Colonies were 
federally organized, two battalions of Marines were 
authorized by the Continental Congress on Novem¬ 
ber 10, 1775. Washington soon found that land sol¬ 
diers, sent on board ships, formed a mutinous and 
unruly body, and, very rapidly, it became clear that 
Marine training must be naval and yet independent. 


172 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

In this double factor was born the development of 
the character of the modern U. S. Marine. 

In all the small naval engagements of the Revo¬ 
lutionary War, the Marines played a part. Cap¬ 
tain Dale’s Marines served with John Paul Jones 
on the Bonhomme Richard, and it was a grenade 
thrown by a Marine which blew up the powder- 
magazine of the British war-vessel Serapis, and 
made her a prize. One battalion of Marines formed 
a large part of the reinforcements sent to Washing¬ 
ton after his disastrous retreat across New Jersey, 
and was the only Division which was successful in 
crossing the Delaware before the Second Battle of 
Trenton. But for the Marines, Cornwallis would 
have taken Washington in a trap. Yet it was not 
until July 11, 1798, that the Marine Corps, as a 
separate service, was authorized by Congress. 

Following the Revolution, Marines fought in the 
naval war against France, against the Mediterranean 
pirates of Tripoli and the Barbary States, in the 
War of 1812, in the Mexican War, in the Civil War, 
against the West Indian pirates, against the Chinese, 
Japanese, and Koreans, against the cannibals of the 
South Sea Islands, against several tribes of Ameri¬ 
can Indians, and have landed to protect American 
life and property ki every quarter of the globe, on 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 173 

occasions too numerous to mention. The red stripe 
on the blue trousers of Marine officers commemo¬ 
rates their famous march to Mexico City in 1846. 

The Tripolitan War of 1801 to 1805 was an excel¬ 
lent example of the fact that Marines could accom¬ 
plish feats which did not come directly under the 
powers either of the Army or the Navy. It was a 
curious war. The four Barbary States, Morocco, 
Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, were, to all intents and 
purposes, recognized Pirate States occupying the 
African shore of the Mediterranean. All the coun¬ 
tries of Europe paid them tribute, and the United 
States did the same. In 1801, America began to re¬ 
sent the paying of this hush-money, and the Enter¬ 
prise captured the Tripolitan polacre Tripoli after 
a two-hours battle in which the Tripoli twice struck 
her colors and then treacherously renewed the com¬ 
bat. The sea-fight was mainly won by the musketry 
fire of the Marines. 

Congress took up this Tripoli tribute question seri¬ 
ously in 1802 and sent a squadron out, under Dale, 
then under Morris, and later under Rodgers. All 
hammered at the gates of Tripoli, in vain. American 
prestige was seriously injured when the Philadel¬ 
phia, while on blockade duty, ran on the rocks 
directly within range of the guns of a Tripolitan 


174 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

fort. The arms were thrown overboard, the ship 
scuttled, and the officers and crew surrendered. A 
few weeks afterwards, the Enterprise captured a 
Tripolitan ketch, which, rechristened the Intrepid, 
brought fame to the famous Stephen Decatur and 
to the Marines. Major McClellan, in his '' History 
of the U. S. Marine Corps,’' tells the story clearly 
and briefly: 

“ On January 31,1804, Commodore Preble ordered 
Lieutenant Stephen Decatur to take command of the 
prize ketch Intrepid, and with seventy volunteer 
officers, seamen, and Marines, to proceed to Tripoli 
and to ‘ board the Philadelphia (still lying on the 
rocks), to burn her, and to make good his retreat 
with the Intrepid if possible.’ 

The Intrepid was off Tripoli on February 7th, 
but bad weather necessitated a delay. On the 16th, 
Tripoli was again approached, and it was not long 
before Decatur had succeeded in performing what 
the great Nelson pronounced to be ‘ the most dar¬ 
ing act of the age.’ They found a fairly strong party 
of Tripolitans on board, as a guard, but laid the 
little ketch alongside the Philadelphia and boarded 
her ‘ after a short contest.’ The Philadelphia was 
soon blazing furiously, and the Intrepid was beyond 
reach of the Bashaw’s guns before the Tripolitans 
fully realized what had been accomplished. Only 
one of Decatur’s men was wounded.” 

As their opponents have found out, many times, 
the Marines are at their very best in hand-to-hand 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA .175 

fighting. The war against the Barbary Corsairs 
brought out another example of this. In 1804 Com¬ 
modore Preble’s squadron, consisting of the Con- 
stitution, Siren, Argus, Scourge, Vixen, Nautilus, 
Enterprise, and some gunboats bombarded Tripoli, 
while the gunboats engaged the enemy’s vessels. 

“The Marines of the squadron were placed on 
board the gunboats,” writes McClellan, “ and per¬ 
formed their duty magnificently. Sergeant Jona¬ 
than Meredith served on the gunboat commanded 
by Lieutenant John Trippe. Lieutenant Trippe 
and nine men boarded a Tripolitan vessel, and, be¬ 
fore the rest of the crew could follow, the wash of 
the ship separated the two vessels. Trippe and his 
men found themselves face to face with five times 
their number. Instant offense was their only safety. 

“ Without a moment’s hesitation, the Americans 
dashed at their antagonists and a conflict of the 
fiercest description ensued. Trippe singled out the 
Tripolitan commander and engaged him in a hand- 
to-hand fight. As Trippe was finishing off his burly 
foe, Sergeant Meredith, by a vicious bayonet thrust, 
pinned to the mast another corsair, who was about 
to finish Trippe. 

“ Preble sent in highly laudatory reports of the 
conduct of the Marines, both in the hand-to-hand 
fighting, and ' in the management of six long 26- 
pounders, on the spardeck, which I placed under 
their direction.’ As to-day, the Marines helped to 
fight the guns of the ship, in addition to their spe¬ 
cial work as boarding parties. ^ , 

“ Probably no war in which the United States has 


176 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

been engaged illustrates so well/^ writes Major 
McClellan, in the Official History, the desirability 
of having an expeditionary force of Marines imme¬ 
diately available with the fleet. Dale’s squadron 
went out and ineffectually thundered at the Ba¬ 
shaw’s forts. Then Morris, and next Rodgers, but 
still the Bashaw was adamant either to bombard¬ 
ments or to offers of ransom, though $500 per head 
was offered by the U. S. Government for the ransom 
of American prisoners. 

Finally the Philadelphia was captured, then 
eventually burned by Decatur assisted by eight 
Marines; but the Bashaw refused all offers of ran¬ 
som on her officers. Marines and Bluejackets. Next 
Barron tried his hand, and again the Bashaw was 
unmoved. 

“All the naval vessels and all the Navy’s guns 
and all the strate^ failed to crack the Tripolitan 
nut until an expeditionary force partially composed 
of Marines forced the Bashaw to consider terms and 
caused him to sign a treaty foregoing tribute and 
releasing the officers and crew of the Philadelphia 
and other prisoners. If there had been an organized 
expeditionary force of five hundred Marines serv¬ 
ing with the Squadron, events might have been 
expedited.” 

The cracking of that Tripolitan nut is a wild tale. 
At that time, William Eaton was Navy Agent for 
the several Barbary States. He conceived the idea 
of dethroning the Bashaw and restoring to power 
the ex-Bashaw who had been exiled by his usurp¬ 
ing brother. The exiled Bashaw Hamet agreed to 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 177 

restore the American prisoners and to forego all 
claims for tribute if the Americans would help him 
back to power. This seemed a better solution of 
the problem than a continuance of the ineffectual 
hammering at the sea-gates of Tripoli. Such a task 
was typically Marine work, and Lieutenant O’Ban- 
non, commanding the Marines on board the Argus, 
took military charge of the expedition. 

They landed at Alexandria and marched through 
to Cairo, although the country was infested by sev¬ 
eral roving parties of hostile Arabs. Despite con¬ 
siderable opposition, official and otherwise, Eaton 
and O’Bannon managed to get in touch with Hamet 
and a convention was signed. 

Returning to Alexandria, Eaton held a conference 
with Commodore Barron, in charge of the fleet, and 
joint operations were laid out. An expedition of 
five hundred persons was organized, one hundred 
being Christians. Of these latter, only ten were 
Americans, and eight of those were Marines. Eaton 
had asked for a hundred Marines, but Barron re¬ 
plied that to take Marines away from all the ships 
of the fleet was a step which exceeded his powers. 
The idea of a Marine Expeditionary Force, acting as 
an independent unit on shore, had not yet been fully 
conceived as an inherent part of naval tactics. 


178 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Lieutenant O'Bannon, with a Marine Sergeant and 
six Marines, formed the spear-point of that amazing 
desert campaign which humbled the Bashaw of 
Tripoli and put an end to a Mediterranean piracy 
which aU the European powers had been unable to 
quell. Their success established the principle of the 
Marine Expeditionary Force. 

The expedition,’^ writes McClellan, “ mobilized 
at Arab’s Tower, about forty miles west of Alexan¬ 
dria. Hamet almost backed out of the adventure 
when his servants were arrested and an advance was 
made on his camp by the Turks, just as he was 
about to leave Alexandria. According to Eaton’s 
account of the expedition, Hamet’s followers would 
have deserted him and fled into the desert if it had 
not been for the firm and decided conduct of Lieu¬ 
tenant O’Bannon of the Marines. 

The route of the expedition lay along the edge 
of the Libyan Desert, a wild and desolate region to 
this very day. Even in this Twentieth Century, the 
Libyan Desert is one of the least explored and most 
inaccessible parts of the world. It is arid, rough, 
lacking in water, constantly raided by the wild 
Tubbus, and, at the time of this expedition, it was 
under the Mameluke Beys who considered all Chris¬ 
tians as natural enemies to be killed or taken into 
slavery. 

On March 8th, 1805, this strange expedition 
started the long march of about 600 miles to Derna, 
the only village of importance between Alexandria 
and Bengazi. There was little discipline in this 
motley horde of Greeks, irregular volunteers. Mo- 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 179 

hammedan mercenaries, and the camp-followers of 
Hamet. Mutinies occurred constantly among the 
camel drivers, and rarely was camp made for the 
night without some kind of a dispute. The eight 
Marines established order as best they could, and 
they were heeded, for the Arabs knew well that the 
Americans would not hesitate to shoot. In three 
weeks of marching, the expedition had been in¬ 
creased to 700 men, a couple of hundred Bedouins 
having joined the little force, partly in the hope of 
loot and partly with the instinctive desire of desert 
folk to take part in the fighting whenever possible. 
Also, the Bedouins have never favored the overlord- 
ship of the Turks.’^ 

Twice the night bivouac was surrounded by un¬ 
friendly tribesmen. The fate of the expedition hung 
in the balance, but Eaton was a good leader, and 
O’Bannon and the Marines had begun to instil some 
idea of military discipline into the Europeans of the 
band. On another occasion, on hearing that the 
small town of Bomba, directly ahead of them, was 
informed of their approach and was ready to dispute 
their passage, the cannoneers and the Greeks re¬ 
belled. Eaton managed to quiet them by the simple 
but effective means of suggesting that mutineers 
would be shot without trial. 

The march became a terrible strain to the Euro¬ 
peans and Americans. Of the 107 camels and 
twenty donkeys which had started from Arab’s 


i8o WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Tower, a third had died on the way. The rate of 
progress per day was short. April had come and 
the heat began to make itself felt. Rations ran 
short. Camels were killed for food. Wild fennel 
and sorrel helped to make up the poor provision 
supply. 

“ Bomba was reached on the 15th, six weeks after 
leaving Alexandria. The force was about to break 
up, unable to continue for lack of provisions, when 
the Argus providentially hove in sight with more 
supplies. The expedition rested for a week in 
Bomba, until the arrival of the Hornet. On the 
25th the march was continued and Derna was 
reached shortly. The city looked so formidable that 
Hamet informed Eaton that he wished himself back 
in Egypt. However, retreat across the Libyan 
Desert was impossible. Hamet had to go on. 

‘‘ Eaton then sent a flag of truce to the Governor 
of Derna, offering him the friendship of the United 
States on condition of allegiance and fldelity to 
Hamet. The flag of truce was sent back with the 
curt response: 

^ My head, or yours ’ ! 

Next day, the Nautilus hove in sight, and the 
Hornet was sent back to the flagship with dis¬ 
patches. The attack on Derna was promptly begun 
by a heavy bombardment from the Argus and the 
Nautilus. This was not with the intention of silenc¬ 
ing the forts, but to compel the defenders of Derna 
to fight both in front and in rear. 

A detachment of seven American Marines, a 
company of twenty-four cannoneers, and another of 
twenty-six Greeks, including their proper officers, all 
under the immediate command of Lieutenant 
O’Bannon, together with a few Arabs on foot, had 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA i8i 

a position on an eminence opposite to a consider¬ 
able party of the enemy, who had taken post behind 
temporary ramparts and in a ravine, at the south¬ 
east quarter of the town. The ex-Bashaw, Hamet, 
seized an old castle which overlooked the town on 
the south, deploying his cavalry upon the plains in 
the rear. 

“ A little before two o’clock in the afternoon, the 
battle was raging furiously at that part of the lines 
where the Americans were placed. The enemy 
threw heavy reinforcements against them, and some 
confusion resulted. Eaton realized that a sudden 
charge was the last and the forlorn hope for his 
cause. If the American and Greek line was taken, 
Hamet’s men would not even try to stand their 
ground. He ordered an advance. 

“ The Americans and others ‘ rushed forward 
against a host of savages more than ten to one,’ and 
dispersed them. Eaton was wounded. Then, ac¬ 
cording to Eaton’s own words: 

“ ‘ Mr. O’Bannon, accompanied by Mr. Mann of 
Annapolis, surged forward with his Marines, Greeks, 
and such of the cannoneers as were not necessary to 
the management of the field pieces; passed through 
a shower of musketry from the walls of the houses, 
took possession of one of the batteries, planted the 
American flag upon its ramparts, and turned its guns 
upon the enemy.’ ” 

The Argus and the Nautilus, which had been 
holding their fire until the American charge should 
have been decided, now raked the opposite quarter 
of the town. The Marines, handling the enemy’s 
guns, poured shot into the quarter near the gate 


i82 with the u. s. marines 


where Hamet’s cavalry were attempting entrance, 
driving back the defenders and giving their Arab 
allies an almost free entry. In two hours, Eaton 
controlled the town. For the first time in its his¬ 
tory the flag of the United States flew over a fortress 
in the Old World. The flag was the fifteen-star and 
fifteen-stripe flag. Of the eight Marines who took 
part in the engagement, two were killed and two 
wounded. The Tripolitans endeavored to retake 
Derna several times, but were invariably repulsed 
with loss. 

Meantime, the shelling of Tripoli had silenced 
many of the Bashaw’s guns. The occupation of Derna 
frightened him, for he feared that he might be forced 
to abdicate. In order to save his skin he agreed to a 
treaty with the United States, demanding $60,000 
ransom, but foregoing tribute. This was accepted. 
The European troops secretly withdrew from Derna, 
Hamet was cared for by the United States, but his 
followers, who had shared all the trials of the march 
and endured much of the fighting, were left in the 
lurch, despite the protests of Eaton and O’Bannon. 
Most of them were killed by the townsmen of Derna, 
as soon as it was found that the Americans had 
gone; the rest fled into the desert where they per¬ 
ished miserably. 



U. S. Marines on parade. 












. Marine detachment on battleship. 







SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 183 

General Eaton, as he became later, thus had come 
to know the Marines. Aaron Burr, in 1805, got into 
communication with Eaton and told him that if he 
could gain over the Marine Corps and secure to his 
interests the Naval Commanders, Truxton, Preble 
and Decatur, he would turn Congress neck and heels 
out of doors, assassinate the President, seize on the 
Treasury and the Navy and declare himself the 
Protector of an energetic Government. Later, he 
became importunate about the Marines, and asked 
Eaton how they stood. Eaton replied: 

‘‘‘Make yourself easy, sir; the Marine Corps 
stand as they should stand.’ 

“ They did. So confident was President Jefferson 
of their loyalty that the Marines were sent down to 
New Orleans, the very centre of the conspiracy, to 
help safeguard the interests of law and order. 
Marines were also set to guard the arrested con¬ 
spirators. Burr had misjudged the Marines, as, in¬ 
deed, he misjudged the sentiment of his country.” 

The Marines played a considerable part in the 
War of 1812, but the history of that time belongs 
rather to the U. S. Navy.'^ On more than one oc¬ 
casion Indian fighting fell to their lot, in most cases 

^ As it is purposed to publish, as a later volume of this series; 
" The Boy With the U. S. Navy/’ naval engagements and life 
on board ship will be reserved for that work.—F. R-W. 


184 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

in direct cooperation with the U. S. Army. The 
work of the Marines in the Spanish-American War, 
however, can be more adequately treated as a naval 
matter. 

Since the Spanish-American War, in 1898, Marines 
have been called upon to serve on foreign soil in 
protection of American life and property during 
every year. In 1899 they were in action in the 
Philippine Insurrection, and also in the same year 
landed in Samoa to protect Americans during the 
native uprising. In 1900 one brigade was kept busy 
in the Philippines, while another formed a part of 
the Peking relief column of the Chinese Boxer 
Rebellion, and a third force was landed in Panama. 
In 1901 and 1902, Marines saw action in a new 
Philippine uprising in the island of Samar, while 
another Marine force was again landed at Panama. 

In 1903, Marines were landed in Santo Domingo 
and Korea, while a force was sent to far-off Abys¬ 
sinia to help negotiate a treaty with Emperor 
Menelek. This latter was again a good example of 
the value of the Marines as an Expeditionary Force, 
for it required several weeks of marching, which 
would take Bluejackets too far from their vessels, 
and, as it was a peaceful mission, the Army would 
not have the right to march with arms through 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 185 

friendly territory, whereas international law permits 
Marines to do so. 

In 1903 and 1904, Marines served on the Isthmus 
of Panama during the formation of the Republic of 
Panama, and the incipient rebellions which shot up 
there like weeds were only kept down by the pres¬ 
ence of the Marines. In 1905 and 1906 several ex¬ 
peditions were sent to Cuba and two regiments re¬ 
mained there until 1909 as a part of the army of 
Cuban pacification. In 1907, Marines were landed 
to restore peace and order after a revolutionary up¬ 
rising in Honduras, and they were also sent to assist 
survivors of the Jamaica earthquake. In 1909, 1910, 
and 1912, forces were landed in Nicaragua, putting 
an end to the revolution and restoring the country 
to a stable basis. In 1911 and 1912, Marines op¬ 
erated in China to protect American life and prop¬ 
erty following the overthrow of the Manchu dy¬ 
nasty. The World War showed the Marines at the 
Bois de Belleau and at Soissons; the aftermath of 
the War gave the Marines expeditionary duty in 
guarding the Rhine; and the situation in China, 
with an unstable government, requires the constant 
attention of the Marines assigned to the Pacific 
Fleet, as guard parties or on expeditionary duty, 
such as the rescuing of Americans and other 


i86 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

foreigners seized by Chinese brigands and held to 
ransom. Military and naval progress has notably 
enhanced, rather than diminished, the importance of 
the Marines. 

Major-General Commandant Lejeune has admi¬ 
rably summarized the work and the importance of 
the Marine Corps of to-day: 

^‘With the development of modern war,’’ he 
writes, the mission of Marines has taken certain 
definite forms which, while not fundamentally dif¬ 
ferent from the mission of seagoing infantry 
throughout all history, has produced changes in 
emphasis and importance on the different elements 
making up the whole. 

The primary and most important mission of 
modern Marines is to act as an accompanying land 
force for the fleet in naval warfare. The develop¬ 
ment of the science of modern war has repeatedly 
emphasized the fact that a fleet without an accom¬ 
panying land force is robbed of vital elements of 
its tactical strength, both as a weapon of attack and 
in safeguarding its own security. 

A fleet in offensive warfare against enemy land 
positions possesses great offensive power in the fire 
of its guns, but it possesses no power to consolidate 
land gains nor to hold positions won. In surprise 
attacks, particularly, a fleet may disorganize and 
silence enemy fortifications so that their capture 
may be accomplished with ease and safety, but, lack¬ 
ing a land force, such capture cannot be consum¬ 
mated at all. History swarms with illustrations of 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 187 

the failure of campaigns in war, due to the ignorance 
or neglect of this tactical principle. 

“ Most striking and significant of these illustra¬ 
tions in recent times is the failure of the Allied at¬ 
tack on the Turkish fortifications of the Dardanelles. 
When the British Fleet appeared before these forti¬ 
fications, they achieved a complete surprise of the 
Turkish garrison. Caught unprepared under a rain 
of shells of the largest caliber, the Turks deserted 
their positions and fled in profusion. A Marine 
force landed at this time could have captured the 
entire line of fortifications with ease and certainty, 
but, lacking an adequate expeditionary force, the 
British Fleet sailed away. When it returned, subse¬ 
quently, with a landing expedition (Army troops, on 
transports), the Turks had strengthened their posi¬ 
tion under skilled German artillerists, so that the 
Gallipoli campaign ended in disastrous failure after 
the expenditure of thousands of lives and the loss of 
opportunities which might have averted the collapse 
of Russia and ended the War a year earlier. 

An illustration from our own history is furnished 
by the events which followed the battle of Manila 
Bay, and the destruction of the Spanish fleet by 
Admiral Dewey. Because of his lack of a land force, 
Dewey was unable to seize and occupy the fortifica¬ 
tions and town of Manila, and was thus forced to 
lie in a precarious position, in a hostile harbor, while 
a strange diplomatic situation worked its way to a 
conclusion which was not ended until the occupa¬ 
tion of Manila by American forces early in August, 
1898 . 

'' In addition to its mission as an accompanying 
expeditionary force with a fleet on an^ offensive 
campaign against enemy territory, an important 


i88 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

division of the duty of Marines with the Navy is 
the establishment and fortification of land bases 
from which the Fleet can operate. Due to the 
necessity for replenishing fuel and supplies, a Fleet 
can operate efficiently only at a limited distance 
from its nearest land base. 

This distance may be computed easily from a 
calculation of the ships composing the Fleet, and, 
if we set it at some arbitrary distance, say, for in¬ 
stance, a thousand miles, it will be seen that if a 
Fleet is to engage in a war against an enemy two 
or three thousand miles distant, it will be necessary 
to have a base for each thousand miles which the 
Fleet is to cover. If such bases are not supplied, it 
may be impossible to send the Fleet out to seek 
the enemy, or, even if it be possible, the distance 
which it is compelled to travel will place prohibitive 
odds against its success, and bring it to the scene 
of battle with depleted stores, shortages of neces¬ 
sary supplies, and a consequently lowered morale. 

It is one of the primary missions of the Marine 
Corps to be equipped and ready to provide such 
bases. If it is necessary to capture them from the* 
enemy, the Marine Corps must study and equip it¬ 
self to do so (under the protecting fire of the guns 
of the Fleet, when possible). After such places are 
captured, the Marine Corps must supply officers 
skilled in fortification (and in all engineering prob¬ 
lems) and in the preparation of defensive positions, 
so that they can be organized and held against 
enemy raiding parties and attacks. (This requires 
knowledge of siege artillery, observation balloons, 
aviation, anti-aircraft methods and all the devices 
of modem warfare, all as a part and parcel of strict 
Marine Corps work.) Under the protection thus 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 189 

established, stores may be transported, buildings 
erected, and temporary dock yards prepared, so that 
the Fleet may be revictualed, refueled, and the 
necessary repairs accomplished to enable it to put 
to sea in a state of maximum efficiency to seek the 
foe. 

“ Another division of the primary mission of the 
Marine Corps with the Navy consists in the furnish¬ 
ing of marine guards, one of which is assigned to 
each capital ship of the Fleet. These Marine 
Guards are organized as Infantry Companies, and 
they are the historical descendants of the companies 
of fighting men which manned the war galleys of 
Greece and Rome. Their mission in this direction 
has decreased in importance since, instead of supply¬ 
ing the entire fighting force of the ship, as the fight¬ 
ing men did in ancient tirnes, they constitute only 
a small proportion of its offensive strength. They 
and their officers perform in every way the full duty 
of the sailorman, side by side with whom they serve. 
They man a division of the guns of the ship^s bat¬ 
tery, are drilled as an infantry force, and are respon¬ 
sible for guard duties and military ceremonies 
aboard ship. Nearly every Marine officer and man 
serves at sea at some time in one of these guards, 
and, in this way, the Marine Corps maintains its 
knowledge of the sea, and its intimate touch with 
the Navy, which differentiates it from all other 
bodies of land soldiers. 

The military organization of the Marine Corps 
differs considerably from that of the Army in a 
number of respects. In the first place, the company 
rather than the regiment or other unit is the basis 
of organization. Neither officers nor men are likely 
to spend a very long period in any one organiza- 


,190 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

tion or arm of the service. The Marine Corps in¬ 
cludes in its training, and in the curriculum of its 
officers^ schools, instruction in naval ordnance, light 
and heavy artillery, machine-guns, all infantry 
weapons, signals, engineering, motor transport, 
chemical warfare, staff work and administration, and 
every officer and man who has spent a number of 
years in the Corps is expected to be able to render 
reasonably efficient service in any of these branches. 
There are, of course, specialists whose desire it is 
to remain as long as possible in one branch, but 
even these are detailed from tune to time to sonie 
other activity, so that they may not lose their 
knowledge of other branches and their ability to 
function outside their chosen spheres should neces¬ 
sity arise. 

A Marine may be sent to sea, as a member of 
the Marine Guard of a battleship, or he may go to 
duty in one of the expeditionary forces, or at a Navy 
Yard in the United States, or he may be sent to a 
detachment or garrison in the Tropics or overseas. 
Fifteen months is the normal tour of duty at any 
one of the detachments to which he may be sent, 
and, at the conclusion of that time, he niay expect 
a transfer to some entirely different station. It is 
the aim of Marine Corps Headquarters to divide the 
service of each enlisted man so that he will spend 
alternately fifteen months outside the United States, 
either at sea or in the Tropics, and fifteen months 
at home. For officers, twenty-four months is the 
usual assignment. 

With this method, it has been found that the 
greatest amount of satisfaction can be given to the 
men in the service, and the highest degree of morale 
obtained.^^ 


SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 191 

General Lejeune does not add, though there 
would have been no denial on his part, that the 
result of this system of training is to make of the 
U. S. Marines a body of men whose valor, discipline, 
probity, versatility, and initiative cannot be sur¬ 
passed by any military organization on earth. 


CHAPTER X 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 

At the expiration of his time at Quantico, Warren 
found that he was to be considered among the lucky 
ones. Most recruits to the Marines are anxious to 
get sea duty directly after leaving the training camp, 
according to the promise of the famous recruiting 
posters: 

Join the Marines and See the World! 

Only a small proportion are able to do so imme¬ 
diately, for a large percentage of the new men is 
needed for the multifarious but more prosaic routine 
duties of guarding Navy Yards and the like. 

Very largely by reason of the letter which he had 
brought from Haiti, however, Warren found his 
dream realized. It was the intention of the author¬ 
ities to use him again in Haiti after he should have 
fulfilled his fifteen months of foreign cruise. Ac¬ 
cordingly, he was sent for a while to the Marine 
Training Station at San Diego, Cal., and then as¬ 
signed to the flagship of the Pacific Fleet. 

The boy was, by now, a trained Marine and little 

192 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 193 

given to surprise, no matter what might come. 
But, the moment he set foot on board the monster 
battleship, an entirely new feeling came over him. 
From the day that the keel of a warship is laid down 
to the day that she first puts out to sea with her 
complement of men, a certain sense of tension and 
discipline is built into her. She possesses an at¬ 
mosphere unlike anything else on earth, or on water, 
for the matter of that. Warren had often wondered 
how there could be work for more than a thousand 
men on board a ship, and, in spite of what the old- 
timers had told him, he had an idea that work 
aboard would certainly be easier than had been the 
unceasing grind at Quantico. 

He soon learned the contrary. The complication 
of duties and the intensity of life on board the bat¬ 
tleship were unbelievable. Once again Warren found 
himself gasping at the amount of knowledge he was 
expected to acquire. The ship-work which fell to 
his lot left very few spare minutes. Drills were con¬ 
stant, and exasperatingly thorough. The entire 
guard duties of the great vessel rested upon the 
shoulders of the Marine Guard, and these had to be 
carried through with a painful exactitude. The dis¬ 
cipline was supremely rigid, for naval as well as 
Marine authority had to be maintained. 


194 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

It was not long before Warren came to realize 
that a battleship is not a ship, in the old sense of 
the word, at all. It is a highly organized and tre¬ 
mendously efficient floating camp. It is a small 
army permanently bivouacked on a moving base. 
Its essential differences from an Army on land are 
due mainly to the fact that naval warfare differs 
from land warfare in that the sea is absolutely flat, 
and that there is no effort to gain territory as in 
land warfare. The battleship is a fighting unit for 
long range work, and must so be considered. 

But, as the first few days passed, Warren came to 
realize that a battleship is even more than that. It 
is a world in itself. Once away from its case, it 
must be all-sufficient and all-contained. The of¬ 
ficers and crew are not on a battleship, they are a 
part of it. From the coal-passer in front of the 
boiler fires to the captain on the bridge, every man 
on board is welded into the ship itself. The same is 
true of the Marines. They were not soldiers on the 
sea, but soldiers 0/ the sea. For the first time the 
boy realized that the Marines must have the spirit 
of the Navy as well as the spirit of their own 
Corps running through their veins. He realized • 
whence came the curious solidarity of the Leather¬ 
necks, the old-timers who had spent years of their 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 195 

lives at sea as well as years on land. They had the 
Army’s adaptability and the Navy’s independence. 

Warren had not steamed half-way across the Pa¬ 
cific before he felt himself to have become an actual 
part of the ship. It was his camp, his country, and 
his home. The very fact that all the work done on 
board was for the purpose of securing fighting ef¬ 
ficiency only engraved in him more deeply the feel¬ 
ing that the Navy is America’s First Line of De¬ 
fence. He felt himself more and more separated 
from civil life, more and more perceptive of the idea 
that the maintenance of the honor of the United 
States abroad lies largely in the hands of the Navy, 
and that the huge fighting craft on which he was 
only a Private of Marines was nothing more nor 
less than a visible sign of the prestige of Uncle Sam 
across the sea. And those fourteen-inch guns could 
speak with authority, if ever there should be need. 
Furthermore, whatever orders it might be necessary 
for Uncle Sam to give to a foreign country, it> was 
the duty and the privilege of the U. S. Marines to 
go on shore and see that those orders were carried 
out. 

During the World War, a Division of the Atlantic 
Fleet served for nearly a year with the British Grand 
Fleet and took its regular turn at convoy duty. 


196 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

patrol duty, target practice, and fleet exercises with 
all the other squadrons of the British Grand Fleet. 
Marines were on board all the ships, and took their 
part in the ship’s duties, but, as no landing was 
made on enemy territory, the particular value and 
importance of the Marines was not brought prom¬ 
inently into view. 

It was otherwise with the Asiatic Fleet. The 
Marines of the Brooklyn, flagship of the Asiatic 
Fleet, participated in the activities around Vladi¬ 
vostok, Siberia, in 1918. In June of that year, 
Vladivostok and practically all of Siberia were under 
the control of the Bolsheviki. The Bolsheviki, as¬ 
sisted by German and Austrian prisoners of war 
(whom they had released) were resisting the ad¬ 
vance of the Czecho-Slovaks, who were trying to 
reach Vladivostok. 

On June 29, 1918, the Czecho-Slovaks in the city, 
numbering 12,000, of whom only 2,500 were armed 
and equipped, suddenly threw themselves against 
the Bolsheviki and after a three-hour battle, took 
control of the city. The Czecho-Slovaks were the 
allies of the United States, the Bolsheviki were 
enemies. 

Immediately after the seizure of the city, Rear- 
Admiral Knight, commander-in-chief of the Asiatic 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 197 

Fleet, ordered a detachment of American Marines 
ashore to guard the American Consulate, and to act 
as a part of an Allied Force composed of British, 
Japanese, Chinese and Czecho-Slovaks, to patrol the 
city. The move was one of considerable interna- 
tional importance, since it declared openly to the 
world that the United States held itself responsible 
for the maintenance of order in the Pacific, together 
with the other two First-Class Powers, Great Britain 
and Japan. 

In the month following, Marines from the Brook- 
lyn acted as guards over German and Austrian 
prisoners of war on Russian Island, about five miles 
from Vladivostok, while Marines from the same 
vessel constituted part of an Allied military force 
of American and British Marines, Japanese and 
Chinese Bluejackets, and Czecho-Slovak soldiers, 
which was organized to prevent a threatened strike 
and disorder among the workmen in the Russian 
Navy Yard at Vladivostok. Until a year later, U. 
S. Marines kept guard at the U. S. Naval Radio 
Station on Russian Island. 

The Marines got to know Vladivostok pretty well. 
Landing parties both from the South Dakota and 
the Albany were thrown ashore to prevent disorder, 
when the local government was overthrown in 


198 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

January, 1919. It was a question of hours. Any 
delay would have given the Bolsheviki—it was really 
far more a disorganized horde of rioters—a chance 
to set fire to the city. The Marines put a stop to 
that. They also mounted guard during the evacua¬ 
tion of the American troops from Siberia, where 
they had been for some time protecting a portion of 
the Trans-Siberian Railway. Marines, too, were 
assigned to the Yangtze Patrol, organized for the 
purpose of stopping piracy on the Yangtze River, 
tricky and dangerous work. 

As Warren found out, by conversation with old- 
timers, and with warrant officers who had served 
with the Asiatic Fleet, the U. S. Marines have had 
a good deal to do with China, and, in the Corps, 
there is a general belief that China is going to be 
a permanent part of the Marines’ job, for the 
Chinese have become discontented, riotous and im¬ 
pudent since the so-called Republic was established, 

^ and, in consequence, seize on every oppqrtunity to 

make trouble. As has been said before, wherever 

I 

trouble appears, there the Marines are sure to be 

i sent. 

Among the friendships made by Warren aboard 

I the flagship was that with a young surgeon who had 

commenced his medical training with the intention 

T ■ 

i > 

i' ■ 

- 

1 ; , 

ir 1 



OUT ON BLUE WATER 199 

of becoming a Medical Missionary in China, but 
who had been caught up in the swirl of the World 
War and had spent a year in charge of a Red Cross 
unit. This had given him a taste for work among 
soldiers and sailors rather than for general practice, 
but he had never lost his keen interest in Chinese 
affairs. 

“ I believe firmly,’’ he said to Warren, that the 
future of China rests in the wise guidance of that 
country by the United States, and, in consequence, 
that the Marines will have their hands full for a 
long time in making smooth the way. The Chinese 
are resentful of European methods, and they are 
utterly scornful of the semi-Asiatic, semi-European 
ideas of the Russian Bolsheviki. They are jealous 
and fearful of the Japanese, and with good cause. 
As it is impossible to prevent the advance of progres¬ 
sive ideas, it stands to reason that the only course 
which lies before China is for it to change its own 
characteristic mandarin rule into American democ¬ 
racy. 

‘‘ Since the Chinese consider themselves the only 
clever people in the world and regard their philos¬ 
ophy as incomparably superior to any Occidental 
religion, the arguments of missionaries have no 
effect upon them; since they understand no per- 


200 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

suasion except that of force, they are quite respon¬ 
sive to the arguments expressed by rifles and ma¬ 
chine-guns. As the Powers are not likely to allow 
any one of themselves to open hostilities against 
China, because of mutual jealousies, it seems to me 
that the only armed forces which can have any in¬ 
fluence in China are the Marines, including, of 
course, those of other countries besides America. 
ThaPs my personal idea, and not inspired in any 
way, but I think there’s something in it.” 

It sounds right. Doctor,” the boy agreed. ‘‘ And, 
when I was in Quantico, I heard several of the non- 
coms talking about China. A good many seemed to 
have been there, some time or other. And didn’t 
the Marines have something to do with the fight¬ 
ing in Tientsin and the famous March of Relief to 
Peking? ” 

They were right in the thick of both, my boy, 
and a mighty fine record they made. If it hadn’t 
been for the American and British Marines, that 
time, the whole Boxer movement might have suc¬ 
ceeded instead of being driven to cover, and then 
this ‘Yellow Peril,’ that the magazines and news¬ 
papers are so fond of talking about, might really 
have happened.” 

“ It was the Boxers we were fighting, wasn’t it? 



All aboard for foreign service. 















Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 


Sports on board ship. 

Boxing and wrestling are favorite diversions of the U. S. 
Marines, and are keenly upheld by the officers. 











OUT ON BLUE WATER 


201 


Who are Boxers, anyway? And why did we have 
to come in? ’’ 

The young surgeon ran his hand over his shock 
of hair with a gesture of mock dismay. 

** I suppose you think it’s easy to explain all that 
in a few words, do you? But you’ll never get any 
proper understanding of the question by beginning 
in the middle, that way. 

“ All the troubles between the Occident and the 
Orient are due to misunderstandings, not superficial 
ones, but things that go deep down. The ideas of 
Oriental peoples cannot be translated into ours, and 
nothing is harder than to try to get the point of 
view of a Chinaman. 

“ There are plenty of people who think that all 
races are alike, and think alike, or, if they don’t, 
they should be made to. It’s sheer nonsense. You 
might as well tell a polar bear, swimming after 
seals in the Arctic, that, because a vegetarian diet 
is wholesome, he ought to climb trees and crack 
nuts like a monkey in the tropics. 

** A good many Americans—people who ought to 
know better, too—have the hope that if you give 
American ideas to a Chinaman he will act like an 
American. He won’t, for the simple reason that he 
won’t—and can’t—think like an American, 


202 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Any one, however ignorant of Asiatic ways, 
ought to be able to see that a people of over 300 
millions, which has followed out its own line of 
civilization, its own line of religion and its own 
line of schooling for more than three thousand 
years, which has absorbed every race which has 
come in contact with it, and which still considers 
itself the most powerful, oldest, and wisest race on 
earth, isn’t going to have its character changed over¬ 
night by the preaching of missionaries, the teaching 
of propagandists, the soap-box oratory of politicians, 
or the advertising pamphlets of commercial houses! 

“ Even supposing that affairs in the Pacific should 
turn so that absolutely everything was working in 
favor of American ideas—and that isn’t likely to 
happen so long as Great Britain, Japan, France, and 
Russia have interests in the Pacific—it would take 
several centuries to change the mentality of the 
Chinese nation. Any biologist or ethnologist can 
tell you that. And, if Chinese character doesn’t 
change, China will learn just enough of modern 
ways to enable her to use them for her own pur¬ 
poses, and Uncle Sam’s holdings in the Pacific will 
be in danger. The U. S. Navy knows that, and so 
do the Marines. 

“ China is bankrupt, execrably governed, exploited 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 203 

both at home and abroad, famine-beset, plague- 
ridden, corrupt to the core, and, from the Western 
point of view, ignorant of the most primary elements 
of self-advancement and progress. 

“ Although possessing millions of seafaring folk 
among her population, having a long line of coast 
with several splendid harbors, yet she has developed 
neither a merchant marine nor a scientific fishing 
industry. Once heavily forested, reckless deforesta¬ 
tion has made her the victim of destructive floods 
which bring appalling famines in their wake. Al¬ 
though she boasts of three thousand years of civiliza¬ 
tion, her government has always been inefficient, 
crooked, and antagonistic to progress. Despite the 
enormous size of her home market, she has very few 
well-made roads and her interior commerce is about 
as speedy as a snail, while every railroad in the 
country has been built and is owned by foreigners. 
There are vast mineral resources in China, but she 
has no output of ore except that which is handled 
on foreign concessions. Though she possesses at 
least twenty times as many farmers as does the 
United States, she has never learned to improve on 
the methods of agriculture that she used a thousand 
years ago. 

“ A situation like that isn’t born out of any tern- 


204 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

porary trouble, and can’t be cured by any temporary 
methods. It isn’t a question of finance, or mili¬ 
tarism, or opium, or international interference, or 
anything like that; it’s inherent in the Chinese 
chai^acter; it’s simply the way that the Chinese are 
made.” 

-N, ‘‘You hammer them pretty hard!” exclaimed 
Warren. 

“ I know them 1 I was born in China. I talked 
Chinese about as early as I talked English, earlier, 
maybe. My father was one of the first American 
missionaries there. He was killed in the Boxer out¬ 
break, soon after I was born. So, you see, I ought 
to know! 

“ Even at that, I like the Chinese, and I’d do any¬ 
thing I could to help them. I can, because I know 
them. But the average Westerner hasn’t the 
faintest notion of Chinese ways of thinking, and the 
consequence is that he messes everything up when 
he goes to China, doing both that country and his 
own a lot of harm.” 

“ Your father was killed in the Boxer War, where 
our fellows were! I wish you would tell me about 
that. Doctor! ” 

“You wouldn’t understand a word of it, or, at 
least, you couldn’t help getting a wrong idea, unless 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 205 

1 give you some idea of the way a Chinaman does 
think/^ the surgeon answered. “ If, as I strongly 
suspect, a large U. S. Marine force is going to be 
landed in China, to protect American interests while 
this five-cornered Civil War is going on—and there’s 
no likelihood of Chinese misrule stopping for a good 
many years to come—you’re very apt to be one of 
the men sent ashore. It won’t do you any harm to 
know what’s what. You might help to put the other 
fellows wise. You’ve been in Haiti, I hear? ” 

“ I was born there.” 

“ Good. Then you agree with me that the Haitian 
negro hasn’t quite the same mind or the same nat¬ 
ural capacity for self-government as has the white 
American? ” 

Not in a thousand years he won’t have! ” 
That’s my idea, exactly. Now, multiply those 
differences by a million, and even then you’ll find 
that the Yellow Man is still farther away from the 
White Man in type, in character, and, above all, in 
the development of the social sense. We’ve gone 
one way, he’s gone another. The roads diverged 
thousands of years ago. There’s no short cut be¬ 
tween them, now. 

'' It would take too long to explain why, so I’ll 
just give you a few of the most outstanding reasons. 


2o6 with the u. s. marines 

Keep them in mind; they’ll be useful to you in the 
Orient. 

“ First of all, there isn’t any Chinese religion, as 
Westerners mean ‘ religion.’ Confucianism, which is 
the national creed, is only a system of etiquette, 
and the basis of that etiquette is politeness. It 
doesn’t matter how many lies you tell, how much 
trickery you do, what atrocities you commit, so long 
as you are polite. 

• “ In Chinese eyes, being polite is being humble. 
In mock humility, therefore, every Chinaman runs 
down his own country to a foreigner and praises up 
his guest’s country. He doesn’t mean a word of it, 
of course. The guest is supposed to do the same 
thing and to declare that the Celestial Kingdom is 
a soaring bird that sun-like covers half the sky, 
while his own country is an insignificant worm by 
comparison. Being a Westerner, the guest doesn’t 
say anything of the kind. He agrees with the China¬ 
man as to China’s backwardness, thus ensuring his 
host’s undying hatred; he boasts about his own 
country, thus making the Chinaman regard him as 
a semi-savage barbarian who hasn’t learned that 
fundamental factor of civilization—politeness. 

“ To understand China at all, as Rodney Gilbert 
has pointed out, it must first of all be clearly under- 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 207 

stood that, no matter what the Chinese may say in 
their exaggerated and niock politeness, they them¬ 
selves are unchangeably convinced that China is the 
finest country on the globe—the ‘ Middle Country ’ 
or Centre of All Good—that the Chinese are a 
chosen people, the cream of creation, the supreme 
nation of scholars, and that they have produced the 
only civilization which is worthy of consideration 
during the whole period of history. 

“ Outside the confines of China, to their think¬ 
ing, there exist none but barbarians, rich and 
powerful, perhaps, but barbarians just the same. 
Their contempt for every one who differs from them 

rrtiiai ■ 

is deep-rooted and absolutely sincere. They are 
perfectly willing to copy Western ways, not because 
they admire them, but to benefit their country. 
Any foreigner who dares to consider that his own 
country is better than China is regarded as an enemy 
to China, and helps to swell the anti-foreign senti¬ 
ment.” 

But we are ahead of China, miles ahead! ” de¬ 
clared the boy. 

In our own eyes, perhaps, but certainly not in 
theirs. After all, our own point of view isn't greatly 
different. I've heard white folks talk about white 
civilization in just about the same way, and declare 



2o8 with the u. s. marines 

that all the peoples of Africa and Asia were ‘ bar¬ 
barians/ ’’ 

Warren winced a little at this, for he realized that 
it was his own idea. 

“ What the Chinaman most despises in the for¬ 
eigner,” the young surgeon went on, is his lack of 
dignity. They say the foreigners ‘ no want Face.’ 
‘Face’ is dignity, and it is the supremest of all 
Chinese virtues. The Westerner is supposed to be 
most anxious to save his soul—or his pocketbook— 
the Chinaman to save his face. According to 
Chinese morals, it makes no difference what lies are 
told, what promises broken, what dirty tricks done 
if they are intended to save one’s dignity. 

“ Any number of treaties and proclamations, all 
of them deliberate lies and breaches of faith, are ac¬ 
cepted as perfectly natural and proper by the Chi¬ 
nese, because they save the country’s Face. That 
Western nations should agree to abide by such 
treaties, merely because they have signed them, is, 
to the Chinaman, a mark of barbarian stupidity. 
From the point of view of diplomacy, Warren, you 
see how difficult it is for East and West to get to¬ 
gether. There’s not a single fundamental precept 
on which to base an agreement, nor is there any 
kind of solemn agreement or treaty which a Chinese 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 


209 

statesman considers himself obliged to keep. An 
oath is nowise binding, nor is a word of honor.’^ 

It’s certainly hard to do business with a liar/’ 
the boy admitted. 

Especially when the liar honestly, sincerely, and 
profoundly doesn’t consider it to be lying, but 
merely a polite way of exploiting barbarian stu¬ 
pidity. To the Chinese mind, a discourteous truth 
is a thousand times worse than the most nefarious 
polite lie. If you don’t say what you think, he sees 
through you at once and despises you as a very 
clumsy liar, for he is an expert; if you do say what 
you think, he is mortally offended and bears you a 
lasting enmity hidden under an affable smile. 

“ I’ll give you another example of how difficult it 
is to get in touch with the Chinese mind. Ameri¬ 
cans have got an idea that to show kindness is a 
move towards friendship. The Chinese look at it 
in exactly the opposite way. They regard an act of 
kindness as an evidence of inferiority. ‘ Why should 
he be kind unless he is afraid?’ say they. Gen¬ 
erosity, to the Oriental mind, is either a sign of 
weakness or a bribe. 

Since America has always done her best to be 
generous to China, declaring that she desires neither 
territory or concessions, China is convinced that the 


210 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

United States is scared stiff of her. Consequently, 
the American ‘ foreign devils ’ are the first ones to 
be kicked. And all the three hundred million 
Chinese are quite ready to take part in the kick¬ 
ing, from the lowest coolie to the highest mandarin. 
Anti-foreign sentiment is the most popular feeling 
in China, and every political leader knows it. You 
can raise a powerful army overnight merely by 
promising a massacre of foreigners and a looting of 
their property.” 

But the Chinese students in American colleges! 

I thought they went back to China to teach United 
States ways! ” 

‘^There's nothing more anti-foreign than a re¬ 
turned Chinese student, as a rule,” the surgeon an¬ 
swered. He has to be, for two reasons. First of 
all, he's got to prove to his own people that his visit 
abroad has not made him a traitor to his country's 
ideals; secondly it's to his own profit as well as his 
natural character to use his new-learned powers 
against the ‘ barbarian.' ” 

“ But that's treachery! ” 

‘‘Not in the smallest degree. He regards it as 
lofty patriotism, and the fact that we admit him 
to our colleges to learn our ways is, to his Chinese 
mind, only another evidence of what fools we be. 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 211 

‘‘ The same thing is largely true of missionary con¬ 
verts. The bloody Tai-p^ing Rebellion was launched 
by Hung-sui-tsuan, who claimed to be a Christian. 
Quite recently, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, medical student 
and Christian, father of the Chinese Revolution 
which overthrew the Manchu Dynasty and made 
China a phantom republic, threw off his pro-foreign 
disguise when he arrived at power, and became the 
leader of the Pan-Asia movement, which aimed at 
appropriating the property of every foreigner in 
China. As for the famous ' Christian General,' Fang 
Yu-Hsiang, who loomed so largely in Chinese af¬ 
fairs until a year ago, he blinded the eyes of the 
missionaries by ordering whole regiments to be bap¬ 
tised en masse, just to cover his own graft and 
double-dealing. He was exposed in the fall of 1925, 
and, just last winter, he issued proclamations call¬ 
ing for a general massacre of all foreigners. There 
might have been serious trouble at Peking and the 
Treaty Ports, if Marines hadn't been there." 

“ What's to be done with China, then? " 

'' The same thing as with Haiti, Santo Domingo, 
Nicaragua, and all the rest of the places where the 
Marines have been wiping up a mess. The Chinese 
must be treated like bad boys in a school. Whip 
them once or twice, hard, make them know who is 


212 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

the master, treat them with the severity they ex¬ 
pect and understand, stop all this nonsense about 
race equality, hang every Bolshevik and labor 
union propagandist to the yard-arm, open up mar¬ 
kets for their produce so that they will have money 
to get enough to eat, and open up their market for 
ours, so that they will have conveniences that they 
have never been able to afford before. That’s my 
program. It’s easy enough to do if rifles are sub¬ 
stituted for soft soap.” 

“ It isn’t particularly American talk,” objected 
Warren thoughtfully. 

‘‘ It’s U. S. Marine talk,” the doctor retorted. It 
wouldn’t have done much good to send a box of 
candy to those Cacos chiefs of yours in Haiti, to¬ 
gether with a perfumed letter asking them please to 

be good, would it? ” ' 

No,” agreed the boy, laughing. 

Same way in China. And the explanation of 
it lies in China’s history. You can’t understand a 
people in any other way. You wouldn’t understand 
the American War of Independence unless you knew 
something about the Puritans and the Colonies, 
would you? ” 

‘'Not a thing.” 

“Nor the Civil War, if you didn’t know the 



Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 

Sergeant Jiggs, bulldog mascot of Marines. 






Courtesy of the U. S. Marine Corps. 

The kind of pets that Marines like. 









OUT ON BLUE WATER 


213 

origins of the several Southern States, and the ques¬ 
tion of slavery, eh? In the same way, you can^t get 
a fair idea of the Boxer Rebellion, the overthrow 
of the Manchus and the present Civil War—in all 
of which the Marines have had to take a hand— 
without knowing something about Chinese history. 
1^11 cut it as short as I can. 

Some people have described China as ‘ a sea 
which salts everything that flows into it.’ I like 
Rodney Gilbert’s simile better. He calls it ‘ a mias- 
mic swamp in which all clear streams mingle to 
stagnate. The aboriginal tribes, still to be found 
in South China and in the Indo-Chinese peninsula, 
were the original swamp, into which wave after 
wave of virile peoples have swept, only to be over¬ 
come in time by the malarial swamp lethargy, en¬ 
ervated, demoralized, and reduced to type.’ 

‘‘ It’s just because of that mixture that there isn’t 
any such thing as a Chinese race. Don’t get fooled 
on that. There are more different kinds of peoples 
in China than there are in Europe, speaking dif¬ 
ferent languages and belonging to different types. 
There are Tunguz, Tartars, Mongols, Manchurians, 
Siberians, Koreans, Tibetans, Turks, Indians, Arabs, 
Jews, Russians, and scores of non-Chinese tribes of 
which you wouldn’t ever have heard the names. No 


214 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

two provinces are alike. There are Chinese with al¬ 
mond eyes and round eyes, blue eyes and black eyes, 
blond hair and brunette, pigmies and giants, round- 
headed types and long-headed types, primitive sav¬ 
ages and over-cultured decadents, but most of them 
are stamped with the levelling effect of a dry-rot 
civilization, or, as Gilbert would say, they are 
dragged down to the intellectual level of the swamp. 

The original Chinese, so the traditions assert, 
came from the Northwest. Chinese historians claim 
that they were a blond tribe, which conquered the 
black-haired savage tribes then living in China 
Proper, but that the blonds were absorbed by the 
black-haired savages, who were greatly superior in 
number. Before absorption, however, they had 
established a solid culture in this hybrid race, a cul¬ 
ture which has lasted for thirty centuries. 

“ Just a thousand years before Christ, China was 
in the same sort of collapse and anarchy that she is 
to-day. The Chinese had fallen into impotence. 
Then barbarians swept in, again from the North¬ 
west, and established the Chou Dynasty, which 
lasted nearly a thousand years. Steadily, however, 
century by century, the barbarians intermarried 
with Chinese and fell under the miasmic Chinese 
spell. The Chous petered out to nothing. 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 215 

‘‘ After the Chou Dynasty, China was overrun for 
four centuries with Turkish, Tunguz, and Tibetan 
hordes. Some of these established short-lived dy¬ 
nasties. The Turks ruled Northern China for some 
centuries after that. Then came the power of the 
Great Khan of the Mongols, followed—after some 
interruptions—by the Manchus from the North. 

“You ought to take note, Warren, that no one 
has ever ruled a United China but leaders of bar¬ 
barian hordes, captains of semi-savage armies, and 
two bandits equally famous for their ignorance and 
their ruthlessness. Not once has China developed 
any form of constitutional government of her own. 
That doesn’t hold out much hope that you can turn 
the Chinese into a self-governing people, in a year or 
two, just by giving them the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence to learn by heart! 

“ But there’s another thing to Democracy, War¬ 
ren. It isn’t only in having the right forms of gov¬ 
ernment, it’s in having the right kind of men. 
Democracy is an idea which has come out of the 
Occidental’s mind; it could have come out of the 
Oriental’s mind. And I’U show you why. 

“ Democracy demands men who like to think for 
themselves, who are aggressive, who want to see 
their ideas put in action, who are ready to fight for 


2i6 with the u. s. marines 

a principle, who believe in personal equality and 
hold to fair play as a jewel, who are frank, en¬ 
thusiastic and generous. Every single one of these 
ideas is directly opposed to the Chinese character. 
The Chinaman wants some one else to do his think¬ 
ing for him, and he will follow out principles that 
are out-dated by a thousand years rather than give 
himself the trouble to think out something new. 
His idea of perfect happiness is to do absolutely 
nothing, though he toils incredibly hard merely to 
scrape a bare living. He despises aggressiveness and 
asks only to be let alone. He will fight only when 
paid to do so, and cares nothing about principles, 
equality, or social welfare. He detests plain-speak¬ 
ing, and considers fair play a stupid fashion of 
neglecting an advantage. In short, his whole char¬ 
acter is twisted in exactly the opposite direction 
from Democracy.’^ 

‘‘What a crowd! ejaculated Warren. “And 
yet you say you like them? 

“ Immensely. They have all the charm as well 
as all the exasperation of children. With proper 
handling, they are docile, loyal, hard-working, trust¬ 
ing, affectionate, polite, and sensitive, but it must 
always be under authority. 

“ The Chinaman and the grown-up American find 


OUT ON BLUE WATER 217 

it hard to understand each other, but the Chinaman 
and the Westerner’s child born in the country are 
almost as twins. They play together, at kite-flying, 
top-spinning and all sorts of games, and understand 
each other perfectly. I know it; I was that way, 
myself. It is only when I succeed in throwing my¬ 
self back into child-mentality that I am able to 
understand the Chinese, to-day. 

“ If you’ve got clearly in your head, Warren, this 
idea of Chinese character, you’ll be able to under¬ 
stand the recent happenings in China, you’ll see 
why the U. S. Marines have been compelled to land 
on Chinese shores over and over again, and why 
they will be needed there for a considerable time to 
come. They saved American interests in the wild 
days of the Boxer outbreak and the siege of Peking, 
and they may have to rush to the rescue again, at 
any minute’s notice.” 


CHAPTER XI 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 

“ From what IVe already told you, Warren, you 
can see that foreign diplomats to China did not 
have an easy time. All envoys had to kow-tow to 
the Emperor, as a formal acknowledgment of the 
inferiority of their respective countries, and all had 
to bring ^ presents,^ or tribute. Even Great Britain 
did so. This condition of things continued until 
China's first real foreign war, the Opium War of 
1840.* China was promptly whipped, made to pay 
heavy indemnities, forced to grant treaty ports, and 

opened up to the world. 

The half-century elapsing from that time to the 
Chino-Japanese War of 1894 is a long period of 
diplomatic entanglements with which I won t bother 
you. For China it was a half-century of steady loss. 
Indo-China became French, Burmah became Eng¬ 
lish, Macao became Portuguese, Manchuria became 
Russian, Korea became Japanese, and Shan-Tung 
fell under German influence. During all that time, 

‘ See ''The Boy With the U. S. Diplomats” by Francis Rolt- 
Wheeler, in this same series. 


218 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 219 

Marines, of one nation or another, were keeping 
the coast cities in order. 

“ The Boxer outbreak was an indirect result of 
the Chino-Japanese War, but its direct cause was a 
Palace quarrel between the old Dowager Empress, 
who acted as Regent, and the young Emperor, 
Kuang Hsu. The Dowager Empress was a true 
Manchu, and reactionary to the last drop of blood 
in her veins. Emperor Kuang Hsu was more Chi¬ 
nese in character and had come under the influence 
of a group of progressive Chinese patriots who had 
been convinced, by the defeat in the Japanese War, 
that China must adopt modern methods. 

“ The Emperor followed this advice with the ut¬ 
most recklessness. Within a few months he had 
ordered changes which would have turned China 
upside down, if they had been carried out. He 
abolished the old system of classical learning, put 
the pruning-knife to ofiicialdom, ordered drastic ex¬ 
propriations of large estates belonging to mandarins 
and tu-chuns (military governors), and even, in his 
zeal for modernism, prepared a measure compelling 
the use of foreign dress and the cutting off of all 
pigtails.” 

“Whew! That was going swift! ” 

“ A good deal too swift for China—and for Kuang 


220 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Hsu. The very extravagance of his reforms threw 
practically all the solid interests of the country on 
the side of the Dowager Empress. A rumor hav¬ 
ing spread that the Emperor planned to capture his 
mother and to convey her to the interior, the old 
Dowager Empress acted more promptly still. The 
army being on her side, she captured the Emperor, 
and forced him to sign his abdication, resigning the 
country to her again, as Regent. The reform rule 
had lasted exactly a hundred days, and not one of 
the reforms had been put in operation. 

‘‘ It was in the next year, 1899, that the anti- 
foreign movement began to crystallize into the Boxer 
conspiracy. The word ‘ Boxer ’ is the abbreviation 
of the name of a Chinese secret society, whose title 
may be translated ^ the Fist of Righteous Harmony.’ 
There was a good deal more of Fist than of Har¬ 
mony in it. It was partly a religious movement, for 
the members of it declared that the spirits of their 
ancestors were wrathful against the presence of for¬ 
eigners, and they avowed that many of the mur¬ 
ders of foreigners and converts were done by the 
spirits themselves. 

“ In the spring of 1900 the murders rose to hun¬ 
dreds. Several villages were burned because they 
were suspected of containing Christian converts. 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 221 


Three missionaries were killed. The Peking-Tien- 
tsin railway line was torn up. Boxer bands roamed 
in every direction. The Powers threatened, but the 
Dowager Empress smiled. A force of Marines and 
Bluejackets, Americans among them, marched to 
Peking and arrived there on June 1. If they hadn’t 
got there just when they did, the Legations would 
have been stormed and every white man slain.” 

‘‘ The more a fellow hears about the Marines,” 
put in Warren, the gladder he is to be one. When 
I joined up, I hadn’t any idea what a wide swath 
they cut in the world’s affairs.” 

“ In proportion to their numbers,” said the young 
surgeon, Marines are the most important armed 
body in every nation. Lots of people talk about 
the necessity of an International Police, run by the 
League of Nations, or somebody else. There’s no 
need of that. The Marines are the World’s Inter¬ 
national Police, and there are no better chums, as 
a rule, than Marine Detachments belonging to dif¬ 
ferent nations. This China business, that I’m tell¬ 
ing you about, is a good example of that. Ameri¬ 
cans, British, French, Japanese, and Germans 
marched and fought side by side. 

'' Let’s get back to Peking. Just ten days after 
this expeditionary force of Marines reached the 


222 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

capital, to protect the Legations, Prince Tuan—un¬ 
der the Dowager Empress’ orders—openly took part 
with the Boxers, and these revolutionary brigand 
bands were attached to the army. On June 10, in 
view of a threatened attack on the European quarter, 
the white residents and a number of native converts 
took refuge in the large walled enclosure, several 
acres in extent, in which most of the Legations were 
situated. Next day the chancellor of the Japanese 
Legation was murdered by Chinese soldiers. The 
day after that, hundreds of supposed converts were 
massacred and the European quarter was set on fire. 
On the 20th, Baron von Ketteler, the German min¬ 
ister, was murdered. That same afternoon, the 
troops opened fire on the legations. The defence 
was taken up by the Marines, under the general 
command of the British Minister. There were only 
720 fighting men inside the Legation, as against 
armies of several tens of thousands outside, but the 
Chinese never got in. They didn’t know how to use 
artillery, and they couldn’t face Marine rifle-fire. 

But if the situation was serious enough in 
Peking, it was a great deal more critical outside. 
The honor and prestige of all the Powers was at 
stake. Their Legations were cut off by a mixed 
army of Government troops and Boxers, and the 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 223 

Legation compounds were besieged. The railroad 
from Tientsin to the capital had been torn up, and 
there was no way of relieving the siege save by 
marching through hostile territory with such scat¬ 
tering forces as could be got together at a mementos 
notice. 

On June 10, Admiral Sir E. Seymour left Tien¬ 
tsin with 2,000 men. Of these, about one-half 
were British, the rest were American Marines, Rus¬ 
sians, French, Germans, Austrians, Italians, and 
Japanese. The plan was to repair the railway, and 
to leave enough men along the line to guard it, so 
as to be ready to rush the reinforcements to Peking 
as soon as the warships hurrying from all directions 
could reach Tientsin. 

** It would take a long time to tell the story of 
that first expedition. The little force of 2,000 men 
ran into an army of 60,000 on the fourth day, cut 
its way through, circled back, and found that a still 
larger army had come up in the rear. It was im¬ 
possible to continue, difficult to return. After two 
weeks of savage skirmishing and rear-guard actions, 
the column managed to return to Tientsin with 

I 

62 killed and 218 wounded, several Americans among 
them. 

“Meanwhile, during the absence of the expedi- 


224 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

tion, trouble had been popping at Tientsin. The 
foreign settlements of that city had been attacked, 
and though the Chinese had been repulsed, there 
had been a great many casualties, and part of the 
city had been set on fire. Communication between 
Tientsin and the sea was cut off. So the Allied 
admirals ordered a naval advance, and the Taku 
forts at the mouth of the Pei-ho River were smashed 

into ruins. 

“ The return of the First Expedition, with the 
reports of its non-success and of the formidable 
armies that lay between the coast and the capital, 
made things look black for the beleagured Legations 
in Peking. Moreover, it was clear that any Expedi¬ 
tionary Force which started for Peking and which 
left an unconquered Tientsin in its rear, ran the 
risk of having its line of communications cut and 
of being surrounded. At all hazards, Tientsin must 
be taken. 

“ Tientsin, on the Gulf of Chih-li, at the north 
of China, is a long way from anywhere, and, al¬ 
though reinforcements were being rushed there by 
every nation, three weeks elapsed before the Allies 
felt themselves strong enough to attack. 

“ The Marines got tired of waiting, and the 
American and British Marines persuaded their of- 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 225 

ficers to let them have a private crack at the city. 
They made a successful surprise reconnaissance 
which proved very useful in the later attack, but 
the position of the city was too strong to be carried 
by a small force. One of the most notable moments 
of that attack was when James Bumes, a private in 
the U. S. Marine Corps, crossed the river in a small 
boat, together with three other men, under a heavy 
fire, and destroyed a building which was occupied 
by the enemy and which commanded the point of 
crossing. 

“ The delays continued. Japan was ready to send 
two Army divisions, and these could have arrived 
within a few days. The United States and Great 
Britain accepted the offer, thinking that the saving 
of the Legations was the all-important thing; Rus¬ 
sia and Germany demurred, thinking that this pre¬ 
ponderance would give Japan too important a place 
in the operations. It was the same old story that 
has crippled the hands of the Powers on every oc¬ 
casion when they have had to do something definite 
with China—jealousy! 

“ Finally, on July 14, a concentrated Allied attack 
on Tientsin was made, and, as you probably know, 
it was one of the many occasions when the U. S. 
Marines covered themselves with glory. In rivalry 


226 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

with the Marines of European nations, Sergeant 
Adams, Corporal Adriance, and other Americans 
were the first to scale the sea-defences of the city in 
a very fury of close-range fire. But the Allied losses 
were heavy, over 700 killed and wounded. Chinese 
casualties were estimated at 3,000.” 

That was a real battle! ” declared Warren. I 
thought it had been just a skirmish sort of affair, 
with a few men wounded on either side.” 

‘‘ You can be killed just as dead in a skirmish as 
in a big battle,” the doctor replied, with a slight 
smile, but don’t you run away with the idea that 
the fighting in the Boxer outbreak was just skir¬ 
mishing. The Chinese are not like your Haitian 
Cacos. When, by any chance, they get a good leader 
whom they are willing to follow, they show them¬ 
selves to be very fair soldiers, able to keep up on a 
very small amount of food, careless of death, and 
blindly obedient to orders. 

‘‘With Tientsin in Allied hands, the road was 
open for a march to Peking. The expedition could 
have started a week earlier, but for the jealousy of 
Russia and Germany. As it was, the leaders waited 
for the coming of the Japanese divisions. During 
the delay, a regiment of Sikhs arrived from India, 
fighting men of the first class. 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 227 

On August 4, the Relief Column swung into 
marching order for Peking, though it was not known 
whether the Legations were still holding out. Gen¬ 
eral Sir A. Gaselee took command of this mixed 
force of 22,000 men, mainly British and Japanese, 
with several brigades of Marines—the Americans 
among them: Bluejackets from the ships of all na¬ 
tions, and a sprinkling of volunteers. The column 
was harassed by guerrilla attacks all the way, but 
Gaselee would not stop to fight except when it was 
necessary to cut a way through the enemy. The 
Sikhs insisted on being the advance guard in every 
engagement; it is their peculiar privilege in the In¬ 
dian Army. But the Japanese, despite their diminu¬ 
tive size in comparison to the stalwart Sikhs, had a 
whirlwind rush which carried them far. By forced 
marches, the column reached within striking dis¬ 
tance of the Chinese capital in nine days. 

‘‘ The Russians, in collusion with the Germans, 
tried to steal a march on the Allies, and attacked the 
city secretly during the night-’’ 

'‘What did they do that for?” interrupted War¬ 
ren. 

“ They wanted to have the credit of having raised 
the siege of Peking all by themselves. That would 
give them a better hold in bargaining for territory 



228 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

when the discussion of China’s indemnities should 
come up, later, around the peace table.” 

But they’d never have got near Peking if the 
Allies hadn’t taken Tientsin and cut through to 
the capital! What a low-down trick, double-cross¬ 
ing their own Allies like that! ” 

‘‘ They paid for it,” returned the young surgeon, 
grimly. ''The Chinese doing sentry-duty on the 
wall weren’t so fast asleep as the attackers sup¬ 
posed, and the Russians were mowed down in 
squads. They fled in confusion, and, as it happened, 
their disorderly retreat interfered with the American 
attack and delayed it, thus making it all the harder 
for our boys, since the element of surprise was lack¬ 
ing. 

"The Japanese attacked frontally, with great 
courage and skill, but m^t a determined opposition, 
largely owing to the premature Russian attack, 
which had given the defenders time to strengthen 
every weak point. The English contingent was 
more fortunate, flnding an unguarded water-gate, 
and the Sikhs—^who love nothing so much as hand- 
to-hand fighting—were the first to cut a bloody 
path through the streets and across the entire town 
into the Legations. 

" This success of the Sikhs relieved the pressure 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 229 

on the outer walls, and the Americans stormed the 
defences at one point, while the Japanese fairly 
battered their way in at another. Even so, there 
were seven hours of the most savage pistol and 
bayonet work before the Chinese gave up the fight. 
A third of the city was in flames. 

‘‘ It was high time that the Relief Column ar¬ 
rived. During the eight weeks of the siege, the 
Legations and the European quarter had been un¬ 
der almost constant fire. Fortunately, the Chinese 
were divided among themselves. The Manchus 
wanted to frighten the foreigners into surrender; 
the Boxers wanted to massacre them all. The re¬ 
sult was that the siege was carried on half-heartedly. 
Pieces of artillery, stored only a few miles away, 
were not brought up at all. Yet, merely in repulsing 
actual attacks, the defenders’ rifle ammunition was 
nearly all gone. 

The situation was even more desperate at the 
Roman Catholic Cathedral and Mission-House, 
where, with a small band of French and Italian 
Marines, Bishop Favier defended his post and saved 
the lives of 3,000 people who had crowded in for 
sanctuary and safety. The last morsel of food had 
been eaten exactly two days before the relief arrived. 
Most of Peking was in ashes, due to incendiary fires 


230 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

started by the Chinese themselves, caused by trying 
to burn every house or shop owned by a foreigner. 
U. S. Marines have been on duty in Peking ever 

since. 

“ A good many of the boys received Medals of 
Honor for their work that day. The Russian mix- 
up had delayed them, and they were behind all the 
others, therefore exposed to a more concentrated 
fire. They erected barricades under heavy fire, halt¬ 
ing when they could, dashing forward when they 
dared, with acres of cold steel in front of them and 
sharpshooters at every window. And, although their 
advance had been halted by the selfish interference 
of the Russians, they were not far behind the Sikhs 
in cutting their way through to the Legations. But 
it put some graves of XT. S. Marines in the cemetery 

of the foreign quarter of Peking. 

‘‘With the Chinese capital relieved, and the 
Dowager Empress and Emperor in flight towards the 
interior, it looked as though the Marines might rest 
easy for a time. It didnT happen that way. They 
were called to Manchuria. 

“ Just about the same time that the Boxers were 
trying to make as much trouble as they could, Rus¬ 
sia was amusing herself in Manchuria by showing 
that she could be as lavish of atrocities as China 



Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 

U. S. Marine Guards of the American Legation at 

Peking. 


China is, to-day, the most dangerous storm-centre in the world, 
and the Marines guard Uncle Sam’s interests, there. 







In China. 



Courtesy of U. S. Marine Corps. 

Before the Sphinx and the Pyramids. 
Join the Marines and see the world. 





RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 231 

herself. At Blagovyeshchensk, some 5,000 unarmed 
Chinese: men, women, and children, were thrown 
into the Amur River, and sharpshooters, on a bridge 
lower down the river, were posted there to pick off 
every one who tried to swim. This was the begin¬ 
ning of another Reign of Terror, in which the 
Powers intervened. U. S. Marines were landed at 
Mukden, during the discussion of the ‘ spheres of 
influence ’ privileges, but were afterwards trans¬ 
ferred to Port Arthur. Another little trouble broke 
out in Korea, and a handful of Marines was sent 
there.’’ 

“ The Marines had fought in Korea before, hadn’t 
they, Doctor? ” 

They were at the very forefront of the fighting 
in the three punitive expeditions which the Ameri¬ 
cans and French sent jointly into Korea in 1866, 
1867, and 1871, because of the assassination of sev¬ 
eral French missionaries and American citizens. 
They taught the Koreans a good lesson. It was 
Corporal Brown of the Marines who captured the 
Korean Standard which flew in the centre of Korean 
Fort, on June 11, 1871, and Private Dougherty of 
the Marines who received a Medal of Honor for 
distinguished gallantry in the attack on the forts, 
and ' for seeking out and killing the commanding 


232 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

officer of the Korean forces/ Korea was always 
ready to make trouble; Japan has tamed her, now. 

But we’re getting away from China. There’s 
no need to go into details about the Revolution and 
the extinction of the Manchu Dynasty. It’s dead 
as a door-nail, or, at least, looks that way, though 
nobody can ever say what’s going to happen in 
China. But, so that you can keep track of events, 
here’s the story in a few words: 

‘‘ In 1908, both the Emperor Kuang Hsu and the 

old Empress Dowager, Tzu Hsi, died. The control 

of the state then passed into the hands of a group 

of weakling Manchu princes who knew that there 

was no hope of saving the dynasty; there wasn’t an 

ounce of plucky blood in the veins of the whole 

group put together. They figured that they just 

* 

about had time to do enough grafting to make them¬ 
selves millionaires before the inevitable crash should 
come. 

The ‘ three great statesmen of China,’ led by Li 
Hung Chang, were dead. The Yangtze Viceroys, 
who had held their part of the country in hand dur¬ 
ing the Boxer outbreak, were very old and losing 
power; two of the best died next year. That left 
only one strong man in China, Yuan Shih-Kai. He 
was honest, so far as Chinese military leaders go. 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 233 

and so he was an obstacle to the princely grafters. 
He was dismissed from office and banished to the 
interior. This gave the last of the Manchus a free 
hand for looting. China was deliberately wrecked, 
and the Revolution was a necessary consequence.’’ 

can see that clearly enough,” said Warren, 
“but who started the Revolution?” 

“ A good many different factions took a hand in 
it, but, at bottom, the outbreak of hostilities was 
due to the rivalry between North China and South 
China as to which should hold the reins of power. 
Small revolts naturally had been popping all over 
the place, during the last years of the Manchu in¬ 
competents. 

“ South China and North China were opposed to 
each other. They always have been, in all periods 
of history. They always will be. They are in¬ 
habited by widely separate races, who speak very 
different languages, and their mentalities are as 
wide apart as are their modes of life. Peking and 
Canton are as distant from each other and as dif¬ 
ferent—as Constantinople and London, or Mexico 
City and Pittsburgh. Peking is a capital. Canton is 
a bustling commercial city. They have about a mil¬ 
lion and a half inhabitants apiece. 

“ South China, thinking only of its commercial 


234 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

advantage, wanted to establish some kind of & 
Western democracy, in order to convince the Powers 
that China was now becoming modern, with an eye 
to contracting a large loan, which would never be 
repaid. For this reason she was anti-Manchu. 
North China possessed an excellent army, which had 
been built up by Yuan Shih-Kai, and North China 
realized that, unless she were to become the tool of 
South China, it was necessary that this Northern 
Army should control the situation. Since the Man- 
chus had sent Yuan Shih-Kai into exile, this army 
was anti-Manchu, also. 

‘Hn China, nothing counts except force. The 
army called for Yuan Shih-Kai to come back, and, 
as he was the only strong man in China, he had 
little difficulty in becoming President of North 
China. Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s extremist group, in South 
China, made a great stir in the world, but compara¬ 
tively little in China. 

“ Then came the World War, and, with it, Japan^s 
famous ‘ Twenty-one Demands ’ and ultimatum. 
As it was necessary to temporize, this loss of ‘ face ’ 
destroyed Yuan Shih-Kai’s prestige, and, with the 
collapse of his power, ended the last chance for 
China to develop along the old lines. 

“ The effort to restore the Manchu Imperial Line, 


RAISING A CHINESE SIEGE 235 

in 1917, under the ‘ Boy Emperor,^ was an utter 
failure. It only showed the impossibility of re¬ 
establishing the dynasty. Ever since that time, 
China has been a seething whirlpool of cross-cur¬ 
rents, whipped into worse confusion by tempests 
blowing from three quarters: Japanese military ag¬ 
gression, Russian Bolshevist propaganda, and the 
commercial greed and jealousy of the Powers. An 
unsettled China is an international hotbed of trou¬ 
ble, and Uncle Sam has got to keep a watch over 
her, a watch with bared teeth. Those teeth are the 
guns of the Pacific and Asiatic Fleets and the rifies 
of the U. S. Marines.'' 



CHAPTER XII 


A HEROIC RESCUE 

The flagship had touched at several Chinese ports 
and Warren, together with other Marines, on shore 
leave, had seen the inhabitants at close range. He 
wondered if the young surgeon^s description could 
really be true, and if the Chinese could be such 
fighters. They seemed so quiet, so patient, so in¬ 
credibly industrious. 

One of his corporals, who had been stationed in 
China during the Revolution, disabused him of this 
idea of Chinese passivity. 

‘‘ Listen, Bud,’’ he said. When yo’ hear water 
bubblin’ in a boiler, it doesn’t make much difference 
how big a fire yo’ put under it, nothin’ much is goin’ 
to happen; but when there’s only a little water, or 
none at all, yo’ don’t hear nothin’. Then what hap¬ 
pens? ” 

‘‘ The boiler blows up.” 

Right. Me, I allers feel as if the Chinese boiler 
was ready to blow up, any time.” 

As events proved, the corporal was entirely in the 

236 




A HEROIC RESCUE 237 

right. Less than a week later, just as the Marines 
on board the flagship were getting ready to take up 
the routine guard duty to which they had been as¬ 
signed, the order was countermanded. A wireless 
message had come buzzing in that there was trouble 
higher up the coast, at Hang-Chow. 

The Yangtze Pirate Patrol wirelessed that an 
excursion steamer, with two Americans aboard—a 
bridge engineer and his young wife—had been over¬ 
hauled and captured by river pirates, that the pirates 
had sold the two prisoners to hill brigands for a 
round sum of money, and that the Americans had 
been taken to the mountains, with the intention of 
being held for ransom. The Yangtze Patrol Com¬ 
mander did not have a landing force sufficient for 
pursuit, without weakening the complement of his 
vessels and rendering them unable to do the work 
they were sent to do. He suggested that Marines 

should be hurried to the spot. 

'' IPs our fault, in a way,'' explained the young 
surgeon, as he talked it over with the boy, that 
evening, as the flagship steamed towards Hang- 
Chow. “ Twice before, Americans have been badly 
treated in China, and both times the United States 
let the chance of punishment get by. I hope you 
chaps give ^em a good lesson this time. 



238 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

‘‘ Do you suppose I'll be allowed to go? " 

‘HVe got nothing to do with that! " exclaimed 
the doctor. Do you want me to saunter up to 
your C. 0. (commanding officer) and tell him you’d 
like to take charge of the party? ” 

'' Of course not, but, Doctor, honestly, I do know 
more about chasing hill-brigands than you think. 
More than any of the other fellows in my squad, 
anyway. I’ve done nothing else, in Haiti, for five 
years.” 

Well, if I get a chance. I’ll mention it to your 
platoon lieutenant, and, if he sees fit, he can pass 
the word higher up. I know that, in the Marines, 
they take a lot of note of every man—far more’n 
they do in the Army—and it’s their principle to 
give every man his chance. But, aside from put¬ 
ting in a good word, I can’t do any more.” 

“ Thanks, ever so much! ” The boy’s eyes were 
/ shining with eagerness. I’m sure the lieutenant 
will let me go, if he just knows that I’ve had a lot 
of experience.” 

‘‘ He might.” 

“ But those cases you were talking of. Doctor, 
were they pirates, too? ” 

One was a brigand matter, but the first was more 
serious, because it convinced China that the United 


A HEROIC RESCUE 239 

States hadn^t courage enough to push an official pro¬ 
test home. Kerens the story: 

“ In the early spring of 1920, a certain Chang 
Chin-yao was Military Governor of the Province of 
Hunan, and, while supporting an army of 40,000 
mercenaries in the neighborhood of Chang-sa, the 
capital city of the province, he was clearing and 
banking a net income of something like $4,000,000 
a month. Before he left Chang-sa, as a matter of 
fact, he made this exact sum at a single stroke by 
the imposition of a surplus tax upon rice export. 
Oh, graft is fat in China when you once get it going 

good! 

Quite naturally, there was a native revolt against 
his tyranny. Chang’s military organization col¬ 
lapsed very suddenly, why, I don’t know, and he 
fled to the town of Yoo-chow on the Yangtze River, 
with about 3,000 of the most hard-boiled of his 
mercenaries with him. Since he figured on escap¬ 
ing from China with all the money he had grafted, 
he could see no reason for paying this army. In¬ 
stead of that, he set them to loot the town. 

“ Squads of men, each under an officer, set out to 
rob and murder, and one of these parties went direct 
to the American Mission School. The missionaries 
were sitting on the verandah, and the officer in 


240 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

command shot and killed one of them who stepped 
forward to ask what he wanted. 

Word was immediately sent to the American 
Vice-Consul at Hang-Chow, and an American gun¬ 
boat, with the Vice-Consul on board, was on the 
scene a few hours later. Chang Chin-yao bluntly re¬ 
fused to disclose the identity of the murdering of¬ 
ficer. As the Vice-Consul insisted that there should 
be some punishment for this murder, the former 
Military Governor called in from the street a coolie 
who was passing by, deliberately dressed him in 
uniform, in the presence of the Americans, and then 
as deliberately shot him as ^ the murderer.’ ” 

‘‘ And the coolie knew nothing about it? ” 

Not a thing! But that sort of thing is common 
enough in China. 

After the coolie had been shot, Chang Chin-yao 
impudently told the American Vice-Consul that it 
was now his duty to prove that the dead man was 
not the murderer. Before the Vice-Consul could 
get the State Department to take any action, Chang 
Chin-yao had left that part of the country. He 
lived for some time in Hang-Chow, then in Shang¬ 
hai, and finally departed for Japan. After he had 
gone, the American Legation was given authority to 
fix the responsibility for the outrage on Chang 


A HEROIC RESCUE 


241 

Chin-yao personally, and to demand his arrest and 
punishment. The Chinese replied that the culprit 
was not in China and that they did not have an 
extradition treaty with Japan.’^ 

“ And so he never got caught? ” 

“ Oh, that’s not the end of the story. Next year, 
Chang Tso-Lin, one of the many Presidents of the 
demi-semi Chinese Republics of that stormy period, 
sent for Chang Chin-yao and made him High Mili¬ 
tary Adviser at Mukden, in Manchuria. The Ameri¬ 
can Legation, not desiring to get entangled in the 
political mess, ignored this. Then, in December of 
that year, Chang Tso-Lin, now the self-styled Dic¬ 
tator of all China, came to Peking, bringing Chang 
Chin-yao with him, in his own private car, as a 
member of the new Cabinet. 

So long as the culprit remained in Peking, the 
American Legation kept quiet. At last they timidly 
reminded the Chinese Foreign Office that the arrest 
of Chang Chin-yao had been demanded. The 
Foreign Minister blandly responded that ‘ their Ex¬ 
cellencies the great Americans possessed to a su¬ 
preme degree the perfect ability to secure for them¬ 
selves whatever their divine intelligence had seen to 
be desirable, and who was he, a mere insect crawl¬ 
ing in the shadow of the ineffable Chang Tso-Lin, 


242 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

to interfere in such high matters? ^—you know the 
line of talk! It was simply the Chinese way of say¬ 
ing: ‘Nothing doing; forget it! ^ The American 
Legation did have to forget it, and Chang Chin-yao 
lives now, in great wealth and comfort, in a palace 
in the foreign quarter of Tientsin/^ 

“ And the case has never been pushed? ” 

“Never! It^s a pity, for it makes the Chinese 
think that Uncle Sam is afraid to make a move.” 

“ They should have put the Marines on his track.” 

The young surgeon smiled. 

“ The Commandant-General of the Marine Corps, 
like everybody else, has to take his orders from some 
one higher up. In his case, the orders come from 
the Secretary of the Navy, and he, in turn, gets his 
orders from the President, the Cabinet, and Con¬ 
gress. 

“A case which was much worse in its general 
effect on China was the brigand case of Lincheng. 
That was more than weakness, it was poltroonery, 
and all the Powers, including the United States, 
were equally to blame. 

“ On May 6, 1923, the ‘ Blue Express,’ the only 
good train in China, a fast train connecting Peking 
and Tientsin with Nanking and Shanghai, was held 
up by a small army of bandits near Lincheng Sta- 


A HEROIC RESCUE 243 

tion, in Shantung. In the fracas that ensued, one 
British subject was shot dead. Twenty-six pas¬ 
sengers, Americans, British, French, and Italians, 
including several women clad only in their night 
attire, were kidnapped. Naturally, all their baggage 
was stolen. They were carried away into the hills 
and held as prisoners. The affair caused a good deal 
of stir. Some idea of the mental attitude of the 
Chinese of North China may be gained from the 
fact that, instead of sending the government army 
to capture the brigand chiefs and to rescue the 
prisoners, the brigands were immediately offered 
high positions in the army itself, on the ground that 
the Powers would not dare to bring complaints 
against men in such high positions. The worst of 
it was that this assumption was true. The Powers 
did not dare. 

For one whole summer, North China rested 
breathless. The foreigners were released, but under 
most humiliating conditions, and the Chinese 
awaited with dread the blow of punishment which 
they felt was sure to come. But nothing happened. 
No punitive expedition was sent, no smashing in¬ 
demnities demanded. The Chinese became all the 
more convinced that the Western ‘ barbarians' were 
afraid of them. 


244 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Take another case, in which the American 
Marines also played a part. Around the Foreign 
Quarter of Peking, there is a high wall, patrolled 
by Legation Guards. No Chinese soldiers in uni¬ 
form, armed or unarmed, are allowed in the Quar¬ 
ter, none upon this wall. One day A. J. Campbell, 
a British resident, taking an evening stroll upon 
this wall, was confronted by a Chinese soldier. Not 
speaking Chinese, he pushed the man aside. The 
Chinaman, Soldier Li, a member of the personal 
bodyguard of the Chinese Minister of War, then 
attacked Mr. Campbell with a small but heavy bag 
full of copper coins. The victim was seriously in¬ 
jured and would undoubtedly have been beaten to 
death if four U. S. Marines had not come up at a 
full run, rescued Mr. Campbell, collared and ar¬ 
rested Soldier Li and brought him to the Legation 
Police Station. 

Li, in his defence, declared that his act was one 
of patriotism and that it was the duty of every 
Chinese soldier to attack any Horeign deviE he 
chose. The trial was a farce and Soldier Li was 
condemned to a ridiculously light sentence; he ap¬ 
pealed to the higher Chinese courts, was set at 
liberty pending the appeal, changed his name and 
was made an officer in the army. 


A HEROIC RESCUE 


245 

Oh, I could tell you a dozen similar cases,—the 
Chen-Bessell case for example—but there’s no need. 
If you stay long enough in China, you’ll see enough 
of them for yourself. AU I hope is that, in this 
piracy and kidnapping case we’re headed for, now, 
the Marines will do all the shooting and the diplo¬ 
mats won’t have the chance to do any talking.” 

So do I! ” agreed Warren. 

Undoubtedly the young surgeon must have spoken 
of him to the boy’s officers, for when the detail of 
200 Marines was selected from the various vessels of 
the fleet, to follow the trail of the hill-brigands who 
had kidnapped the American engineer and his wife, 
Warren found himself among them. The corporal 
of his squad was an old Haitian soldier, himself, and 
was glad to have the young fellow. 

Although Warren had seen a good deal of service 
among the Haitian brigands, this march of the 
Marines towards the mountains back of Ngang-king 
Fu was much more impressive. No artillery was 
taken. Everything was to be done with rifles and 
machine-guns. 

In Haiti, a very large part of the success of the 
work had lain in the elements of surprise, and in 
disguise. Most of the Cacos chiefs had been cap¬ 
tured—as in the famous case of Charlemagne Peralte 


246 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

—^by the Gendarmerie bands passing the sentries 
unsuspected. But it would have been impossible 
to disguise 200 American Marines, in war marching 
order, as Chinese coolies! The expedition must be 
handled openly as a case of rescue, and, in the event 
of resistance, as a punitive expedition. 

There were two good weeks of marching, through 
the rice-fields of the lowlands and the silkworm 
mulberry groves of the foot-hills before the Marines 
reached the mountains. There, the ofl&cial guide of 
the expedition began to fail them. No one was will¬ 
ing to give any information. The captain almost 
tore his hair. How was he to find out the where¬ 
abouts of brigands in a country where every single 
person would protect them, where all, men, women, 
and children, were hostile to the foreign devils ” ? 
As well search for a needle in a haystack. 

The Chinese guide declared that there was noth¬ 
ing easier. A little bastinado, or red-hot pointed 
wires thrust under the nails, or a whip-cord twisted 
around the head and drawn tight and ever tighter— 
any of these things would bring information, if his 
Sublime Excellency the Noble Captain would only 
choose- 

The captain did not choose. He said so, emphat¬ 
ically. How could an officer of the U. S. Marines 



A HEROIC RESCUE 


247 

give orders for torture? Bribes were different, now. 
If the guide- 

But surely. The guide was convinced that if the 
noble Americans were generous, it would be possible, 
perhaps- 

This was blackmail, pure and simple, for the guide 
himself would pocket most of the money, that was 
sure. Probably he knew where to go, all the time. 
In any case, he came back the next day, all bows 
and smiles, declaring that he had learned the where¬ 
abouts of the brigand camp. 

“ An’ if you don’t find it, my bird,” said a husky 
sergeant to him, that evening, I’ll cut off your 
pigtail an’ tell the cook to put it in the soup! Don’t 
forget that! ” 

The guide had not the slightest fear of the cap¬ 
tain, but there were some husky boys among the 
rank and file, and he had a considerable regard for 
his own skin. 

In the hills, the Marines found an entirely differ¬ 
ent race. The men were tall, straight, brown, sharp¬ 
nosed, straight-eyed, silent; the women worked in 
the fields beside the men, and were as sturdy as 
they. 

** A fightin’ crowd, by the looks o’ them,” said the 
sergeant. “Say, you,” he added, turning to the 




248 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 
guide, “ these brigands,, are they of that breed, or 
plainsfolk? 

“ Yes, they are like those! 

'' Then,'’ said the sergeant, '' this is going to be 
some scrap! ” 

The boys chuckled joyously. It would be a shame 
to march so far, if there wasn’t going to be a scrap 
at the end of it. 

It was the second night after that, camp being 
very carefully made and a strong line of sentries 
posted, that the relief watch, coming in, brought a 
small boy with them. He spoke a sketchy English. 

‘‘ My unc’, velly bad man, velly much beat me, no 
likee Mellican. I likee Mellican. I likee go back 
Flisco.” 

‘‘ Well? ” queried the lieutenant of the watch. 

“ You takee me Flisco, I takee you Mellican plis- 
oners.” 

The lieutenant hesitated. He knew perfectly well 
that, under the Immigration Laws, he could not 
help a Chinese boy to enter the United States. On 
the other hand, the coming of the boy was provi¬ 
dential. Unless some one acted as a guide, they 
might wander around those mountains for years and 
never get nearer to the brigands. 

‘‘All right,” he said at last, “if we rescue the 


A HEROIC RESCUE 249 

American prisoners, because of you, 1^11 do my best 
to see that you get back to Trisco/^ 

Me born there. Me Mellican citizen.” 

He wasn't, of course, but that made no difference. 

“ Are the prisoners far away? ” 

‘‘ Walkee, walkee, two days; one night.” 

“ Are they guarded? ” 

“ Bundled, two bundled? ” Evidently the boy 
did not know. Velly locky, allee samee fort.” 

This was not pleasant hearing. A rocky fastness, 
high on the hills, defended by the type of men they 
had just seen, a garrison two hundred strong, was 
more than the lieutenant had bargained for. His 
men could carry it, of course, but while it is the first 
duty of an officer to gain his objective, a not less 
imperative duty is to achieve it with the loss of as 
few men as possible. 

The Chinese boy, kept under strict supervision so 
that he should not escape, was as willing to talk to 
the men as he had been to the lieutenant. The fact 
that there was a difficult task before them sent 
every one's spirits to the top notch. 

“ 0 Boy! ” said one. “ Get the dance programs 

ready! ” 

‘‘We'll make 'em get up, we'll make 'em get 


up 


99 



250 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

“ How about sendin^ some pig-tails home for 
souvenirs? 

Serrgeant, dearr/^ this from an Irishman, can’t 

we be there onny sooner? ” 

The march was taken up at dawn. It was bad 
going. The little footpath, just wide enough for 
coolie laborers, wound in and out of the rocks. The 
officers eyed the heights above and the ravines be¬ 
low with disapproving eyes. The boy might be lead¬ 
ing them into an ambush, for all they knew. They 
gave him no chance to slip away. He walked be¬ 
tween two Marines who had strict orders never to 
take their eyes off him. 

That was a twelve-hours’ hike. Camp was pitched 
in an exposed place. It was cold, and there was a 
wet wind blowing, but, at least, there was no chance 
to rush the position. Yet, towards morning, there 

were two shots, just two. 

The Marines had to dig two graves before they 
fell into step that morning. The presence of such 
sharpshooters among the brigands was discompos¬ 
ing. Warren remembered when, with ten men, of 
the Haitian Gendarmerie, they had been shot at, all 
night long, by a band of 500 Cacos and only two 
men had been wounded. Here: two shots, two dead. 

Sniping continued at intervals, during the day. 


A HEROIC RESCUE 251 

Two men were wounded, but neither seriously. In 
the afternoon, when, according to the Chinese boy 
guide^s statements, they were nearing the bandits' 
retreat, the sniping stopped. 

An early halt was made. Camp was speedily 
made and entrenchments dug, topped with loose 
stones. There was no saying whether the 200 
brigands might not have received formidable rein¬ 
forcements. After supper a call was made for volun¬ 
teers to scout. Every man clamored to go. Eight 
men were selected, at last; four groups of two men 
each. The corporal, who had a Medal of Honor 
for Haitian work, selected Warren. The boy knew 
this sort of business thoroughly, and, though rather 
slight of build, he had plenty of endurance. Also, 
he had gained the envied position of ''qualified 
marksman.” 

Warren and the corporal started as soon as it got 
dark. According to orders, they were to advance 
cautiously until they came in touch with the enemy, 
or until they found some evidence of his presence. 
This done, they were to return and report. There 
was to be no shooting, if possible, but, if there 
should be shooting, two support parties were to be 
under arms and in readiness on either flank of the 

camp. 


252 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

It seemed to the boy as if he were back again in 
the Haitian Gendarmerie, creeping up on the strong¬ 
hold of some Cacos chief. They advanced slowly 
for nearly two hours. Then the boy, his ears 
younger and keener than those of the corporal, 
heard a slight sound. He laid his hand on the non- 
com^s shoulder: 

Voices! ” 

They crept nearer. 

“ They’re talking English! ” Warren whispered. 

Noiselessly the two came closer, wriggling over a 
flat rock and saw below them what looked almost 
like a small pit. The rocks rose sharp and sheer 
on three sides, almost forming a triangle. At one 
of the angles, there was a space which served as an 
entrance. Inside the entrance was a burly China¬ 
man, leaning on his rifle. Creeping across the rock, 
♦ ■ • 

and peering over, they could see another sentry, m 

the same position. Four more lay on the ground, 
outside, apparently asleep, but with their rifles in 
easy reach. In the shadow of the rock and there¬ 
fore scarcely visible in the darkness were two darker 
blotches on the ground. As they listened, they 
heard a man’s voice say: 

“ These confounded ropes are cutting my ankles 
in half. I was hardly able to walk, as it is.” 


A HEROIC RESCUE 253 

Then a woman’s voice: 

“ Do you suppose they’ll kill us, John, before the 
Marines arrive? ” 

Likely to,” was the grim reply. Dead folk 
tell no tales. But cheer up, Molly! ” 

In resi>onse to a touch from the corporal, Warren 
crept back a hundred yards or so, to be out of hear¬ 
ing. 

“ I see how it is,” said the corporal. “ Those 
Chinese bums have taken the prisoners out o’ their 
main camp, so’s there’d be no chance for rescue if 
we should rush it, an’ all the fightin’ would be for 
nothin’. If we should win out, an’ there’d be any 
chance o’ their gettin’ caught, they’d kill those two 
to keep ’em from talkin’.” 

“ That’s the way I got it, too! ” whispered War¬ 
ren. 

“It’s taken us nearly three hours to get here,” 
the other continued. “ Three hours back to camp 
an’ two hours for the boys to come up at the dou- 
ble^no good! It’ll be daylight afore that! We’ve 
got to put those birds out o’ business, ourselves.” 

Warren’s heart beat hard. 

“ Just the two of us? ” 

“ Just that. Here’s the dope! We go back where 
we were before. 1*11 stay on the inner side o that 



254 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

flat rock, where it’s sheer. You crawl out to the 
edge. When I give the word, you pot the sentry 
who’s standin’ outside. I’U look after the other; 
he’s more dangerous because he’s nearer the pris¬ 
oners. The minute you get him, turn loose on the 
four who are sleepin’. There ain’t no excuse for 
missin’—at fifty yards! ” 

And then? ” 

Don’t waste any time. Scramble down the rock 
as best you can. I’ll stay on top an’ if any one 
pushes in through the gap in the rock, he’ll get 
his. When you get down, cut the prisoners’ ropes. 
Free the two o’ them as quick as you know how. 
Stick one of the dead Chink’s rifles into that fel¬ 
low’s hand; if he’s an engineer, he’ll know how to 
handle it. Got it straight? ” 

Yes.” 

Get on, then! ” 

Experience told. With the plan clearly laid out 
before him, all Warren’s five years of work in the 
Gendarmerie came to his aid. He was cool and col¬ 
lected. At the same time, his Marine discipline 
helped him. He was perfectly sure of himself. 

Arriving on the top of the flat rock, the corporal 
halted, Warren crawled on. There was a minute’s 
pause. 


A HEROIC RESCUE 


255 


" Fire! 

There was not the difference of a split-second in 
the two reports. Warren’s man fell, like a stone. 
The inner sentry, though fatally wounded, turned 
and made a burst for the prisoners, bayonet aslant. 

A second shot stopped him as he ran. He spun 
round and fell, dead. 

At almost the same time came the quick reports 
of Warren’s rifle. He was shooting well, but not 
well enough. One man, unwounded, came bursting 
in the entrance evidently with the intention of kill¬ 
ing the prisoners, for, undoubtedly, as the corporal 
had supposed, that was their task they were set to 
do. 

But the corporal had not fought on a dozen fields 
for nothing, and, even in that uncertain light, his 
aim was coldly true. The man went down at the 
very entrance of the gap. 

‘ Slide, Kelly, slide!’” he called. 

Warren chuckled at the old baseball cry and 
slithered down the rock. His knife was out, and in 
a moment or two he was sawing at the ropes. 

How many of you are there here? ” queried the 
engineer. 

“ Two,” said Warren. 

‘‘ Two what? Two hundred? ” 


256 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

Nearly that, at the camp. There’s only two of 
us here, scouting. There, that’s cut! ” 

The woman had not spoken. The revulsion of 
feeling had been too great. She had fainted. 

The corporal slid over the rough face of the rock, 
scraping and bruising himself, and swearing most 
horribly. The engineer had not waited to be told; 
he had already grabbed a rifle and ammunition-belt 
from the dead sentry. 

'' I’ll do what I can,” he said. “ But my wrists 
have got sores clean down to the bone, an’ my 
ankles the same way. We’ve been tied up for 
more’n two weeks.” 

** An’ the lady? ” 

“ She’s fainted.” 

‘‘ Give her here! ” 

He turned to the boy. 

I’ll have to carry her; you can’t. You stay here. 
Shoot, every once in a while; shoot as if you was 
a dozen. Keep ’em off our track.” 

Warren looked him straight in the eye. 

‘‘You mean—I’m a decoy so that you can get 
the woman off safely? ” He gulped hard. “ All 
right. Corporal.” 

The old non-com held out his hand, 

“ Good-bye! ” 


A HEROIC RESCUE 257 

“ Good-bye. Tell them- No. Nothing. 

Good-bye! ” 

Silently and swiftly the corporal set out, carrying 
the woman, the engineer painfully hobbling behind. 
He was scarcely able to walk and had difficulty in 
keeping back his groans. 

Ten minutes later, several shots rang out. 

‘‘ Good boy! ’’ said the old Marine. 

But, half an hour later, when some more shots 
were heard, the volleys that followed were not from 
service rifles. 

Seems a shame! said he. But that’s dooty! ” 

Not more than five minutes after that, the sup¬ 
port party, their eyes a-glitter with excitement, 
came plunging up the trail. The corporal shoved 
the woman’s inert form into the arms of the nearest 
man, wheeled sharply round, sprang to the side of 
the officer, waved him upward, and, as they ran, ex¬ 
plained the situation in which he had just left 
Warren. 

The word was passed, and the Marines went up 
that rocky steep, in the darkness of the night, like 
mountain goats. The pathos of that boy, left all 
by himself, deliberately to draw fire, appealed to 
them all. A wild yelling arose in front of them. 

They burst into the clearing in front of the en- 



258 WITH THE U. S. MARINES 

trance to the rocks. Fifty Chinese brigands, furious 
and shouting like madmen, were trying to force 
their way into the gap. It was blocked. In an in¬ 
stant the corporal saw what had happened. War¬ 
ren had rolled a stone to the entrance to make it 
easier to hold. The officer saw it, too. 

“ Come on up, you birds! ” yelled the corporal 
and led the way round to the top of the rock. 

The Chinese followed. Some of them climbed 
the sheer face like monkeys. 

On that flat rock Marines and Chinese grappled, 
while the corporal looked below. 

WS'^'en was fighting still, but huddled on the 
ground, wounded. Two men were almost on him. 
The Chinese were sliding down into the pit on every 
side. 

Rifles spat in the darkness. Now was the time 
for marksmanship. If even one Chinaman got to 
that struggling boy! But the Marines did not miss. 
While some fought with rifle-butt and bayonet on 
the rock, others, with quiet intensity, fired at the 
Chinese dropping into the pit as calmly and surely 
as though they were blazing at clay pigeons or get¬ 
ting bulfis-eyes on the range. Outside the gap, the 
rest of the Marines, under the officer, were making 
mince-meat of the brigands. 


A HEROIC RESCUE 259 

Suddenly Warren^s head drooped and the rifle fell 
from his hands. 

Four of the boys, by a common impulse, risked 
that slide down the sheer rock and rushed across 
the pit. 

The fight was slackening, now. 

Then, with a wild burst of shouting, the rock was 
hurled away from the gap, and the Marines poured 
in. The rest all happened in sixty seconds. Not 
one Chinaman was left fighting. 

The corporal, bleeding himself from two wounds, 
stooped over the boy, who was covered with blood, 
and unconscious. 

“ His hearths beating yet, Lootenant! ” 

The officer examined him more closely. 

H’m. He’s pretty badly shot up, but I think 
that he’ll recover. We don’t want to lose him. 
He’s a Leatherneck, all right. There isn’t one of 
us who wouldn’t be proud to be in his place.” 


THE END 















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